If one listened to
Colin Reid's debut -- Tilt -- and expected great things from the guitarist, then his follow-up --
Swim -- will confirm the suspicion. Although
Reid falls within the
Bert Jansch and
John Renbourn school of guitar players, his artistry reverberates further than his lovely fretwork. Whereas on Tilt he composed most of the tracks, on
Swim he has written all the material. There's also a noticeable change in the fact that he doesn't rely on guest vocalists as he did on the earlier album. Instead,
Reid alters between solo pieces and slightly larger arrangements, creating a unified musical canvas as he moves from one piece to another. The somber "This Broken Rapture," on which he's joined by
Brian Connor on the Hammond organ and
Neil Martin on the cello, makes way for the springy, ragtime-flavored "Monster." The lovely, pensive "Cassandra" is highlighted by the perfect melding of the arrangement of guitar (
Reid), violin (Buffy North), and cello (Becky Joslin) against a shifting chord progression.
Reid's music doesn't fit into readymade categories: it's too deep to call New Age, but too loose to call classical. All one can call it is the realized work of an original artist following his own muse. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.