This is darkly beautiful stuff.

It’s rare in today’s experimental music cadre for a guitarist to play an electric instrument while restraining the tendency to let loose and churn out fuzz ridden, almost nonsensical noise. Playing free certainly has its place – and always will. But more often than not, it seems as if there’s a reduced number of emotions being exuded during those freeq outs. And while it might be said that introspective music is all dour, without too much aggressive reward, it’s still possible to relate anything from a pensive feeling to exuberance with the least amount of notes possible and in a controlled setting.

Loren Connors, whose recorded under a buncha different names and collaborated with Jim O’Rourke and the rest of the improvising cognoscenti, has been issuing work for the better part of thirty years. At first, Connors’ releases were all low run, obscure affairs, frequently pressed on seven inch records. Today, his music isn’t that drastically different, but the guitarist has reached a point in his career allowing for his music to be released through some of the underground’s most respected imprints – Table of Contents or otherwise.

In most writing on Connors, contrasting with a number of folks working in his milieu, there’s pervasive mention of a blues influence sitting next to an Irish one. And while the word “Air” accompanies a number of the guitarist’s song titles, there doesn’t seem to be much of that old world influence audible in his compositions. And as for the blues, Connors is a Western musician, so there’s no escaping that, but it doesn’t mean he sounds overly bluesy.

In fact, a good portion of As Roses Bow sounds as if it was ripped from any number of ECM albums dating back to the seventies. It’s Connors relaxed player, using open space as much as notes – and almost never full chords all at once – that makes the connection. Fortunately, there’s none of the new age accompaniment much of the ECM catalog comes bogged down with.

Pinpointing a proper contemporary, or even a lineage for Connors to fit into is pretty difficult. But once one realizes the man’s a poet in addition to being a guitarist, some of the Eastern influenced beat writers might seem at home spouting off atop of Connors’ guitar compositions.

He’s still recording and touring today as Connors has reached the ripe age of sixty. With all that experience, it wouldn’t be a shock to hear further explorations of a what a single guitar is capacious of. We’ll see.