Jon Stickley Trio
Lost at Last
Reviewed by: Jane Roser
I love a good surprise. You know, like the ending of an O. Henry story, Saving Private Ryan‘s Best Picture Oscar loss to Shakespeare In Love, and of course, Buffy falling in love with Spike. Since I wasn’t familiar with the Jon Stickley Trio when I was sent their new record, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they are an all-instrumental band.
Lost at Last is the trio’s sophomore album, releasing October 6th and funded by 282 Kickstarter backers. Six of the eleven tracks are original tunes, while the other five are covers of artists such as producer Dave King’s band The Bad Plus, Tim O’Brien and Bela Fleck with Mark O’Connor.
The album fuses gypsy jazz and bluegrass to showcase Stickley’s fast as lightening flatpicking guitar, Lyndsay Pruett’s gorgeous violin melodies and Patrick Armitage’s percussion. The fuel that meets the fire. To really appreciate this group’s talent, however, you need to see a live show which really drives home how tight they are as a group, plus if Stickley plays guitar any faster, the devil might give him a golden one.
The strongest tracks are “Darth Radar”, and “”Pamlico Sound”. The former is an audience favorite at their live shows which illustrates the song’s title well; you can almost imagine Stormtroopers marching around the Death Star as Obi-Wan points out “that’s no moon. It’s a space station.” There are elements of suspense and impending doom, which would be kick ass on a movie soundtrack. “Pamlico Sound” has a gorgeous melody and is what I’d imagine a fairy tale would sound like if there were no words.
A few tunes do get a bit lost in the middle of the album, where they almost blend together with little distinction, but all in all Lost at Last is an original, unique record with a dash of the unexpected.
Rating: Bad-Ass
