Todd Boston
In the long-awaited follow-up to Todd’s brilliant Touched by the Sun, we find a more immersive and expansive approach with his new ONE. With the wondrous run of guitar-centered albums rolling through these pages this year—Adam Werner, Shambhu, Bruce BecVar—it’s exciting to add this to the string-rich bounty.
Months of incubation and inspiration summoned from nature surrounding his Magic Cottage Studios in West Marin has reaped ONE’s abundance of gentle beauty.
All manner and styles of guitar traverse the many currents and genres within which he is ever so adept. Trading off between Martin acoustic, Fender Strat, Lap Steel electric, and Foggy Bottom acoustic, Todd draws from a wildly precise range of string sounds. Finely tuned flute passages ride the currents of composition, while complimentary instruments—including dobro (resonator slide guitar), guzheng (Chinese zither), and djembe—come and go in perfect harmony, adding other cultural flavors to the organic feeling of the music.
ONE opens with the sonorous sound of the bamboo flute, intricacies of guitar themes patiently laid down and introduced. Song themes have been placed in a naturally pleasing order to completely serve the vision. “Ambrosia” takes the listener to the Far East, savoring a patient spaciousness that builds gradually, while “Astral Heart” soars and dances with the eternity of star-filled skies. Other tracks dive deep into more ambient terrain, evoking pensive feelings, grateful for the connections our lives attract. Each track is a treasure of a uniquely special flavor, gifts in different tempos that speak to the soul, flying high above the norm so that full engagement is inevitable.
Todd dedicates this “to the ONE, the Music that teaches us everyday to breathe, to be present, to feel, to listen deeply.” ToddBoston.com
—LLOYD BARDE (LLOYDBARDE.COM)