Will Simmons
In So Many Words
Shrimper, Box 1837, Upland CA 91785
Release Date: 1997
Every once in a while, a little bit of manna drops in your lap. Will Simmons' In So Many Words is just such a chunk of heavenly bread. Simmons paints his aural landscapes with everything from the simple (basic guitar harmonics on "The Klepto Dance") to the highbrow (a droney Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sample on "Smoking With the Nomads"). But no matter where the sounds come from, they are carefully pasted together to form beautiful and moving minimalist orchestrations.
Simmons played all the instruments on Words (save for a guest "cymbal" appearance by mixing engineer, Phil Nunnally), and recorded the album on a four track. It's the polar opposite of "slick" production, but he's hardly shooting for lo-fi indie cred. Close your eyes and you'll be damned if the exuberant, almost-Latin percussion of "The Klepto Dance" isn't being tapped out in your living room.
Simmons' compositions rely largely on steady, lulling lines. But where repetition is so often robotic, Simmons' slight variations and inconsistencies make it entirely human. The multi-layered guitar parts of "Dave Heller: Grand Canyon Operative" start out doubling one another, but slowly glide apart, finally ending in a quietly chaotic jumble. Unfortunately, Simmons seems afraid of boring the listener, as he ends every track in 3 minutes when many rightfully deserve to go on far longer. But hey, I'll take a couple minutes of untainted beauty any day.
-- Jon Carson
carson@outersound.com
