Tim Motzer - Beacon, on a live solo guitar quest with electronics, recorded at Quinns.
Tim Motzer - acoustic-electric 6 & 12 string guitars, electric baritone guitar, electronics, semi-modular, sequencer, bow
Beacon is an extraordinary solo set by Tim Motzer, recorded live at beloved music venue Quinn’s in Beacon, NY, in front of an audience who listened in rapture to this totally improvised 45-minute journey. Motzer begins his dramatic set exploring ethereal harmonic chord sequences on his acoustic-electric 12-string guitar & creating atmospheric cloud-like loops. Surprises abound, as the song, Snafu, veers to different landscapes and percussive terrains. Eastern themes emerge, constant re-inventions and re-orchestrations lead the listener through to a beautiful landing. Trees in the Sky begins in mystery with de-tuned synth-like bell sounds, glitch electronics, and harmonized acoustic-electric 6-string percolations evolving into long gorgeous melodies and strange eastern drifts. As Let’s Go Dream emerges, dark questions are being asked. Darker harmonic progressions are being investigated descending into a beautiful emotional passage with Spanish guitar melodies. A sadness lingers in the layered textures as the music sparkles in a spellbinding dissolve. The epic final 25-minute piece covers the bulk of the concert. Climb, Descend, Chill delves deeper and further out into sound exploration and incorporates a tempo-shifting sequenced semi-modular bass synth leading into some astounding slide guitar excursions on his baritone.
Motzer has the innate ability to build captivating harmonic structures that seem to pull mesmerizing moods out of thin air. This set stays focused while untethering the cinematic dreamscapes to drift to where the music suggests it wants to go. Motzer follows this gloriously to the end, live without a net, in reverie. -dh
