Lars Stigler

This Viennese guitarist has been working quietly, in all senses of the word, for just over a decade now. Samarium is his fourth solo release in that time and showcases a patience and clarity of technique. As the lengthy title hints, a tonally complex, yet scrupulously observed, phenomenon continually unfolds until it inhabits a wide vista of sound. In the musical world this is revealed through initially delicate and deliberately plucked notes against a rising hum of the chorus. Stigler stretches the first two long pieces into divided movements, suggesting natural process, before releasing a more synthesised arrangement for radio static saturated guitar and piano harmonics. Stigler’s compositions have a little in common with Oren Ambarchi’s more restrained moments or Giuseppe Ielasi at his least abstract. But truthfully, his music is on its own track, one that is less interested in the density of structures and more concerned with a simplicity that’s more about clarity than minimalism for its own sake. These are themes for travelling deep into the heart of things or observing the sweep of great distances.