No Jelly; Just Milky Way Jamming

SpiritMusic (Independent)

Lewis Mathis

By David Lilly

"It's just not fair!" he whined facetiously. Several years ago I listened to an acquaintance complain about "the way" of the music business. Frustrated by a scenario he described as "some guy playing amazing music in his basement, stuff nobody's probably ever going to hear, while at the same time the No. 1 song on the radio is pathetic."

Ladies and gentlemen of the Louisville-music jury, I submit to you the notion that one of our own, Lewis Mathis, is one of those musicians that fits into the scenario the aforementioned person referred to. In the next paragraph I will submit the evidence in writing, as I see (or hear) it. Mathis is a talented multi-instrumentalist. He played most of the music here, and was gracious enough to thanks others who contributed.

Shake hands (and booty) with the boogying "Moving in Rest," the interestingly titled opening eight-minute jam. On the heels of that comes "Drive," which pretty well qualifies as a progressive space jam (not to be confused with canned strawberries from the Milky Way). "Ancient Tongues Sing Prophet Songs" could pass for an outtake of Pink Floyd's "Set The Control For the Heart of the Sun," which is a major pat on the back, coming from me. "In the cool of the day..." (yes, that's typed verbatim) is a gorgeous spring or autumn breeze of a song. Regardless of how long the breeze lasts, grab it and savor it. Just when you're thinking, "doesn't this guy write anything under eight minutes?," along comes all 2 ½ minutes of "Rain," a Tom Waits-esque experimentation in minimalist percussion. There's nothing in this lengthy feast of ethereal jams that you'll hear on commercial radio, but hey, that's their loss.

Let me rest my case by saying that Mathis does not broadcast Christianity per se, but the liner notes of this CD begin, "This music is to the glory of God..." Take from that what you will, and witness for yourself that his art, the energy that goes into it, and the feelings that come from it are clearly more important to Mathis than his bank account. This music has nothing to do with genres, but it is progressive in every sense of the word. Spending a few bucks on this disc will definitely be your gain.