Benji Kaplan: Meditacoes no Violao

An exotic form of baroque: Slow purposeful strumming ending in speedy fractal flourishes.

New York-bred Brazil-o-phile Kaplan provides a sort of life-travelogue here, soloing nonchalantly throughout the entire album on his nylon-stringed unplugged guitar.

It's so relaxed and unhurried that it can come off as improv, and reading some of the blurbage here I believe that's the case with some of it. No matter, of course, if you're lazing in a hammock trying to visualize your last time on an uncrowded beach or whatever; this record's perfect for that, asking nothing of its listenership other than to put its brains on screensaver. Slow purposeful strumming ending in speedy fractal flourishes is the core formula, little deviation to be found aside from the bouncy up-and-down Baiao rhythm in "Baiao For Gershwin," the title of which hints at what Kaplan would like to be thought of, a sort of oldschool-jazz-meister with advanced knowledge of world music.

But it's perhaps best viewed as an exotic form of baroque.

By Eric Saeger

Homepage: Benji Kaplan