Dad's Album of the Week is back.  This is the series where I briefly review my late father's vinyl.  

Jean-Luc Ponty - Open Mind

If I were to hear this without any context, I would say this is a product of the 80s.  It sounds so very 80s.  Heavy synth, computerized percussion... well, that's not too terribly different than modern pop and electronic music now, is it... heavy synth, computerized EVERYTHING these days... but this sounds like exactly when it came from... 1984.

Jean-Luc Ponty (who I had to Google) is a classically trained jazz violinist, and his discography is very very long.  Open Mind shows up kind of in the middle of it.  This isn't my genre of choice at all, so this album name is fitting, as it required that I have an open mind to get through all six tracks.  (Can't really call them "songs", as there isn't any singing.)  The instrument that takes most of the solos here is violin, but it doesn't often SOUND like a violin.  This is probably because they are all electric instruments on this recording, and also because of Ponty's approach, filling the space in the compositions that trumpet, trombone, or saxophone would normally occupy.  This is especially the case in "Modern Times Blues", where I would swear that there is a saxophone in there, but no, it's a zeta violin bringing saxophone tones.

"THIS ALBUM HAS BEEN MIXED ON A TWO TRACK DIGITAL MACHINE" is clearly stated in the liner notes.  That seems like a lot of work.

I find myself wondering what these compositions would sound like with more traditional jazz accompaniment, but keeping the violin in place as the lead instrument.  That's probably something I'd pay money to see.  If you are into jazz or the sounds of 1980s synth, you'll probably dig this album.

MOIRA is Aaron Hardy, Alicia Grodecki, and Patrick Hague, if you list them alphabetically by first name.  These are three musicians whose relative youth belies their experience.  Punk, metal, pop, extensive touring... these are the things you'll find as you look into their past.  All of that experience combines to produce art that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Inventive rhythms from Patrick behind the drum kit, including the occasional drum pad being triggered.  Thick synth and sturdy bass lines from Aaron, on the audience's right.  More synth, Rhodes, and vocals that oscillate between delicate and strong from Alicia, over there on the left.  Songs that are carefully constructed and given time and space to develop, to breathe, to surround you.  

MOIRA is one of my favorite artists around these parts right now, and the only thing I would ask of them is to get us more records.  Please.

Their first EP, Asleep/Repeat/Awake, came out in 2015.  They have a brand new release that just came out a couple of weeks ago.

You can catch them playing shows around Dayton, and also around the Midwest.  If you haven't gotten a chance to see them yet, and wonder what they are like live, well, I recommend their excellent performance at the Paste Magazine studios in New York.  Watch it here.