Diego Barber - Drago (2021) [Hi-Res]

There is only one way to enhance one’s performance and that is to practice until there is a level of confidence in act, and pride in the outcomes. Guitarist and composer Diego Barber seeks new challenges relentlessly. His pursuit of excellence in all his endeavors has led him to the extreme heights of classical guitar technique, contemporary composition and long-distance running, all of these requiring grueling regimens of focused study.

For his new recording, Drago, Barber departs from his recent focus on blending contemporary classical music and jazz to focus on electronic music, utilizing elements from both the classical and dancefloor models. A two-year long study of Logic music programming has led the fleet fingered string specialist to eschew the guitar for the most part to focus on composing pieces in a new and highly personal way.

Barber was attracted to the guitar very early in life and, once he set his sights on the instrument, he began to focus solely on mastering it. Classical repertoire from Bach to Brouwer continues to be an essential touchstone for Barber but he was also touched by the minimalists, like Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Their repetitive looping structures appealed to Barber and he began to hear the connects between that and the development of Detroit Techno and the Electronic Dance Music coming from Berlin. Barber’s interest and infatuation with electronic music has been nearly as longstanding as that of his love for guitar.

There are quite a few classical and jazz artists that have delved into the world of electronic music. Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Tristan Perich, Francesco Tristano and Craig Taborn are just a few that have found intriguing ways to adapt their style to that of electronic music, both popular and experimental.

Like the widespread roots of the famed one-thousand-year-old Drago tree of his native Canary Islands, Barber spans decades to inform the compositional development of this music. Each piece comes from a different place, whether done in sonata form, built by loops or by musical cells. Many of the pieces were inspired by a sound that Barber heard or a rhythm that he generated while on one of his many long-distance races, thus many of the pieces are named for locations of these 50 to 100-mile ultra-marathons that Barber took part in.

The program begins with the title track, a piece that is inspired directly from the Steve Reich grooving, loop-based version of classical minimalism and utilizes guest vocalist Theo Bleckmann’s beautiful stacked vocals and Barber’s own amplifying electric guitar. The mysterious “Leadville” refers to the chilly Colorado mountain town and shows the most obvious parallels to the experiments in electronic composition from the 1960s and 1970s. Percussion master Alejandro Coello is featured throughout on marimba and acoustic percussion. The austere “Utah” began its germination while Barber ran an overnight stretch in the deserts of Utah, jotting down notes when stopping at rest breaks. The piece retains a steady, pacing beat count and a hauntingly dark mix of percussion and electronics.

The continually expanding “Bryce Canyon” continues to gain momentum throughout its development until it reaches a climax near 200 beats per minute and is a perfect two minutes for the dancefloor. The cinematic “Zion Park” relates the composer’s feeling pressure during a grueling race of 100 miles at 1,000 meters elevation, an incredible feat of endurance. The piece uses a cell of melodic and rhythmic information that continues to reoccur throughout the entire piece, developing drama from small repetitive actions. The nocturnally shaded “San Francisco” begins as a twinkling view of this crest filled city on the Bay before its insistence picks up into a late-night sprint.

The hazy resonance of “Santa Monica” emanates from a MIDI guitar that Barber handles deftly, making three vastly different moods emerge from one another, like visiting different pictures in an exhibition. The snow can practically be seen in the mind’s eye on “Cold Spring,” as guest Craig Taborn provides lovely piano and a touch of mystery to this enveloping ambient piece. The program concludes with the electro funk of “Vermont,” a piece where Barber focuses his attention on his electric guitar, reaching exhilarating technical and emotive heights.

The incredible music on Diego Barber’s Drago is a departure from his typical output but it also shows the development of an artist who accepts musical challenges and finds exhilaration in chasing the unknown.

Diego Barber - guitar, electronics
Theo Bleckmann - voice (1)
Alejandro Coello - percussion (2)
Craig Taborn - piano (8)