CD Review: Eldar - Re-Imagination

REVIEW

Eldar - Re-Imagination



First Impression

     So here it is, child-prodigy Eldar's latest release. Eldar has been criticized by many in the past for his "robotic" sound on the piano because his almost unimaginable technique on the piano enticed him, noted in his first release, to play some songs at really fast tempos that very few could play as cleanly. Though this is true and his technique seemed flawless, many found flaw in his playing, saying that his approach was the direct opposite of the Miles Davis-like, "less is more" type playing. Now, two albums later, how does the new Eldar stack up?
      Ultimately, I wasn't too impressed with his work, and would rather listen to a blindingly fast "Sweet Georgia Brown" to marvel at his speeds than listen to any of the tracks on this record. While they may not all be bad, I can't praise any one of them very much. The main reason behind this lack of praise to them is the fact that there seem to be three types of songs on this record, and all of the songs that fall under each type could almost be baked into a single pie together.
      The first type is the one denoted by the very first track. Maybe this is Eldar's re-imagination of the keyboard, adding electronic noises (reminded me of some of the effect that Kenny Werner put in his latest album, though overused, I think, in this one) and using names like DJ Logic to turn the tables on a couple tracks. Okay, so it was a good effort, but there were still many flaws. The first thing that came through my mind when listening to the first track was, 'Wow, this sounds a lot like the kind of stuff that Lyle Mays and Pat Metheny write together, though the role of great technique is on the piano player and the role of a more lyrical approach comes from the guitar in this CD'. I do like a lot of that music, but there was something about this that was different, and not in a good way. There were many times that I felt ideas were starting to get good, and then we were thrown in another direction that ended up being not so good... and this happened on all of the tracks that sounded like this. There was a lot of energy coming from Ali Jackson on the drums that helped keep interest, but with lackluster solos and strange mood changes within the songs, I ended up being turned off by this type of song. And I repeat, it happened with them all, especially because they sounded quite alike. There's a distinct pop influence in them all, like in Mays' work, and Eldar, to me, puts too much pop in it. Interest was lost midway through the tracks.
     The second type of song is the ballad-esque type. All in all, these tracks bore me to tears. I usually lost interest in the head. "Out of Nowhere" as a ballad is a good idea, but it was absolutely flat from beginning to end. His attempt at being lyrical rather than technical doesn't seem to be working out very well when there it's all boredom and no energy to his lyricism. It's like he's trying really hard to hold back his fingers, so there's a sort of "fakeness" in the space that he leaves. Many of these songs sound like they belong in a movie soundtrack simply because there are a couple highlights and then there's a lot of filler where the actors are supposed to be focused on in the movie rather than the music. It's like listening to the full Attack of the Clones orchestration by John Williams that spans through every single scene in the movie, except the really great parts are just not here in Eldar's recording. Another comparison would be to Christmas CDs like the A Winter's Solstice collection. It's pretty, but aside from a few moments, it's background. Both works compared to know to work it a lot better because this method is deliberate, where in Eldar's works it isn't.
      Finally, there's the return to the type of thing that he did in his first CD with really fast playing over standards. This I enjoyed quite a bit more than the other types. Eldar's playing over the Oscar Peterson tune was a lot more true, I felt, and the ideas were more coherent and intuitive. This is the kind of work that I like hearing, and though I'm that he's being taught to add the lyricism, I wish that he wouldn't record such songs until he learns to use it wisely. Otherwise, this type is just fine if someone forces his into the studio.
     In the end it turned out to just be an uninteresting piece of work. Eldar's use of DJ Logic and the electronics didn't add much to the songs, the repetitive nature of his songs made me wish that he cut the number of tracks in half, and the lyrical approach that he's attempting to do just isn't working out. I can see a lot of aspiring, young pianists looking up to Eldar now and in the future and all of the people Eldar's age and older just scoffing at him because either he's being robotic or because he can't be as original as other players. Technique like that is to be marveled at, but because he has excellent technique does not mean that he is skilled in other areas of playing. I look forward to hearing his other attempts, but time will tell whether or not I listen more than twice to any of those recordings.