Let’s do things in reverse. Let’s revisit the work of violinist Steve Kindler. Perhaps better known for his work with John McLaughlin and Jan Hammer, one would be surprised to discover how much more sweeping and romantic his solo work was. And it doesn’t get much more “sweeping and romantic” than his, sadly, nearly impossible to find Automatic Writing.
Not to be confused with Robert Ashley’s proto-ambient, spoken word opus, what they both did share was something: using mantric, spontaneous creativity undoubtedly rising from Steve’s own spiritual background to create “mechanical”, spontaneous music with a far different result. A release of the New Age-type, once again on Global Pacific’s seemingly (surprisingly!) deep catalog, Automatic Writing once again found Steve venturing far outside the fusion world.
Taking inspiration from zen theory, Pan Pacific music, and experimenting with sonic gadgets like synths, sequencers, and samplers, Steve uses his innovative 6-string violin sparingly on Automatic Writing, allowing all sorts of atmospheric, rhythmic background to create a sonic bed in, to just swoop in and lace with some of his most “emotional” melodic ideas. Automatic Writing is never entirely challenging because it wasn’t meant to. Evoking Steve’s, then-adopted home of Hawaii, a lot of this album floats by as ambient music with a dose of tropical flair that’s heavy on laid-back vibes of his locale.
Endlessly moving, Automatic Writing never entirely slows down to the slow rhythms (or tempi) mostly found in ambient music of that day. If you’ve listened to its titular track, you can hear Steve use latin motifs and electric guitar to eke out something that wasn’t quite jazz, new age, or smooth fusion. Much like Jean-Luc Ponty’s criminally underrated mid-80’s work or the work of Hajime Mizoguchi, we find them draw from their roots in truly romantically-inclined, melodic string music in order to reacquaint that supposedly “staid” instrument in ways that could make it affect really hypermodernist ideas.
Songs like the opener “Invocation” use barely there string ruminations to slide through a languid, very far eastern-sounding style of open, sonic space. “Back Country” evokes the galloping western-style minimalism favored by the Windham Hill crew, albeit with Steve’s impressive world music-influenced twist on that sonic stripe. Shades of Shadowfax or even Oregon (heck, let’s extend that to his native Oregon) come to mind here.
Not to go too deep into an album of wonderful instrumental music. I’m going to get lazy and pull off my reviewer hat and head on back for another listen of Automatic Writing. There’s nothing alarming about it. No noisy interludes. No real “difficult” songs. Just ultra-breezy, plaintive, mood music, all carried forward by Steve’s silky-smooth violin playing that eases your day. Just track after track of simply beautiful timeless easy listening, that is anything but easy to pull off. It’s “For You…” (or all of you) as a wiser man once said…