Nathaniel Davis' decades-in-the-game Unchained project connects with A Colourful Storm for a collection of guitar-based instrumentals possessed of a faintly exotic edge akin to the balmy romanticism of Maurice Deebank or Steve Hiett. Originally from Providence but now located in Grenoble, the shift to warmer climes appears to have seeped into the music somehow, Davis playing with a near-horizontal languor that suggests little in the way of work being done. Effortless perhaps, and in a rush certainly never, helped immensely by the delicate gestures towards bossa nova that are kissed with a riviera's grace. And so down the accompanying river Gabbeh idly does go, a concoction of subtle percussive glimmers and gentle tricks of the light guitar playing where the only concern is why a summer day might ever decide to end. It certainly works as a great advert for the town of Grenoble itself, where one might easily lead a half-speed life in service only of the beautiful and the serene. Chance would be a fine thing. But as escapist endeavours go, this is a tributary well worth following.
