The Sound Of Inevitability

15 Songs | MR048 | Release Date 2009 Listening to Lenny Bryan’s just-released solo album Mama - The Sound of Inevitability, the old problem recurs of how to write about music in an honest and meaningful way for folks generally unfamiliar with the work at hand. Say the Max Recordings album - which I like a lot, by the way - is all about shimmering, decaying sheets of guitar tone and liquid crystal vocals that sometimes split the difference between John Fogerty and Bono; that it’s dreamy and droney, subtle and sublime, with percolating water torture beats and swirling frequencies mixed up with animal noises and musique concrete treatments. It’s state-of-the-art, 21st Century pop music. Does that really tell you anything? Or is it so much adjectival jazz that might (or might not) make sense if you headphoned the disc yourself ? Language is insufficient for describing complex sound, so a lot of music writing ends up being about lyrics and what other bands the guitar player has been in. R