Loren MazzaCane Conners & Jim O'Rourke
"In Bern"
(Hat Noir)
While I readily admit that I write way too much about Chicagoan Jim O'Rourke, this just cannot be helped. O'Rourke is an incredibly prolific musician and has networked himself all over the globe thereby insuring a host of fascinating projects in conjunction with a variety of equally talented artists. Take O'Rourke's collaboration with guitarist Loren MazzaCane Conners for example. The liner notes for "In Bern" describe this concert duet as a monumental meeting between two generations of guitar players. While Conners is a fair bit older and actually made some records in the sixties (under the pseudonym of Guitar Roberts) and O'Rourke is just a shade over thirty, I don't see it this way. I view these innovators as a couple of guys who happened to attend different schools together. In any case, the improvisational confluence between Jim & Loren is nothing less than extraordinary. Their electric high-wire act is performed live without a net and the payoff is found in each man's spontaneity and empathy for the other. Mostly understated and introspective guitar dialogues, these instrumentals stretch time and space while highlighting the imaginative nature of two like minds. Rarely relying on technical virtuosity (of which there is plenty) to create sparks, LMC & JO'R sustain a most delicate tension that serves ably as aural entertainment. Probably best suited for listening with the lights down low, "In Bern" is certainly a great make-out album. Intimate, gentle and imbued with a sensitive longing reflecting the deep emotional reservoirs of both musicians, this disc captures an extended moment in time when everything made sense. While this disc exemplifies Jim O'Rourke's ongoing dedication to the art of guitar, recent reports have the man stooped over his laptop making brand new music for a brand new century. So let's just see if we can continue to keep up with Mr. Jim O'Rourke and his most eclectic muse, shall we?
by Mitch Myers
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.