(2020) Steffen Basho-Junghans - The Dancer On the Hill


Review:
German instrumentalist grew up amid the wild landscapes of Thuringia in East Germany and began his journey into solo guitar music by listening to any tapes of players that made it over the Berlin wall. The first name he drops when talking of early influences is the American technical genius Leo Kottke, a player so precise that Jack Rose found his music distinctly unmoving. Steffen’s guitar sound is far from similar to Kottke’s and is, of course, influenced most by Robbie Basho, an artist Steffen has a scholarly knowledge of and whose beat up and iconic hundred-odd-year-old twelve-string guitar he now owns. A hand operation made Steffen look at the guitar in a more experimental way a few years back and a successful battle with cancer makes two mammoth hurdles that could have a bearing on the life and energy that resonates from The Dancer on the Hill. An artist profoundly affected by nature and natural landscapes, Steffen’s music has an uncanny way of evoking the images his song titles suggest, was celebratory. The very artwork on the album cover, painted by Steffen, jumps at the eye in a swirl of colours and patterns, dancers and birds. The first quickly strummed notes of Rainbow Dancer are also full of life and colour; the song pulses and gallops, while an underlying melody keeps pace and then drops away. Raga Puru begins more sedately with clean fingerpicked strings and sweet hammer-ons bringing Jack Rose to mind. There is a carefree attitude to Steffen’s playing, obvious from the very start of this record, that makes it such a freeing experience; the meditative repetitive patterns in the second half of Raga Puru, more muscular than Rainbow Dancer, suggest a player locked into his music and as entranced as we are. Further on, Dancing Mountains II has a similarly elated energy to Rainbow Dancer, but is less harnessed, giving it a pleasing, almost juvenile feel. Southern Dance is more relaxed again, with softer, more poignant notes drifting beneath a sharply strummed pattern, combining to give the song a slightly woozy nature and, like many of the pieces here, a structure and directness that suggests improvisation. Even better is Eagle Dreaming, one of two long pieces here at just shy of eight minutes. Again, the predominant pattern is quickly picked higher strings, but the low notes are fascinating here, especially the buzzing bass string, which is ace. Steffen’s ability to evoke the images of the song titles is uncanny; the choice is the listeners, without doubt, but the feeling of hanging high in the air on the wing on this one is hard to resist. The Dancer on the Hill is an album that will demand to be listened to many times. Steffen’s playing is busy in parts and complex, but his freestyle approach also offers layers and invites perspectives and interpretations. Once the final notes of the beautiful closer Clear Night (quietly snatching the best song prize) drift away, you will want to go straight back to the beginning. — folkradio.co.uk





Track Listing:
01.Rainbow Dancer (12-String) 2:57
02.Raga Peru (6-String) 8:07
03.The Dancer On The Hill (12-String) 5:50
04.Dancing Mountains II (6-String) 3:27
05.Brazil (6-String) 3:42
06.Southern Dance (6-String) 3:06
07.Eagle Dreaming (12-String) 7:51
08.Clear Night (12-String) 4:49


Media Report:
Genre: acoustic, folk
Country: German
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits