After four decades of writing, performing and recording nearly every style of music conceivable, Jeremy Morris not only commands admiration for brazenly exploring and embracing a wide array of sonic expressions, but the quality of his work is continually outstanding. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Dulcimer Dance, his latest album, rolls in as yet another inspired endeavor.
Consisting mostly of instrumentals, the 12-track collection features dulcimers as the primary instrument. A variety of additional instruments – including guitars, drums, synthesizers, pianos, mandolins and even tape loops – deftly implement the resounding tones of the dulcimers.
Registering at over eight minutes in length, Jeremy Morris’ epic “Rain Dance” launches off to a mass of shivering and shaking sitars before unleashing a showcase of classical piano passages, resulting in a paralyzing display of intense beauty. The hypnotic strum of equally electrifying pieces such as “Revival” and the title cut burst with color and light, where “Joy Explosion” and “Jubilee” ripple and radiate with melodic grandeur.
The space-age squeal of synthesizers and hard-rocking guitar exercises are neatly shoehorned into the dulcimer pickings, while mandolins occasionally sweeten the scene. Much of the material on the album contracts and expands, pointing towards pieces ebbing and tiding with extreme musical contours. From floor to ceiling, the instruments are put to excellent use. A lot of cool and interesting stuff is going on within the grooves, so listen closely and prepared to be awed.
I can’t stress enough how Jeremy Morris’ Dulcimer Dance pushes ahead with imaginative twists and turns that never fail to amaze. The fusion of vintage and modern-day instruments brings together the past with the present in a novel and exciting way that is actually timeless, Guaranteed to uplift the spirit, Dulcimer Dance teems with the kind of unique sounds and patterns that tend to characterize psychedelic and progressive rock. But the album really rests in a category all its own, and that alone makes it both special and successful.
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