Jean-Francois Mathieu Voyage Dans Un Coeur Brûlant

With no fewer than 6 of the 9 tracks here re-recorded from his 1996 album Inguitarissable, Mathieu is relying heavily on the strength of his repertoire. But there is a major difference in the treatment of the pieces 5 years later, and someone must have had a quiet word in Jean-Francois' shell-like that echoed my grievances about his previous effort - with all those midi patches, it might have been fun to play, but it was just too crazy.

With all the excess baggage removed and the focus very much back on a single, central instrument, we can now hear a master musician at work, with a strong individual personality, and with quite a flair for elegant, refined composition. The fire this time comes from well phrased lightning-fast licks, no shredding in earshot. Influences are drawn from even farther afield, a semi-successful Africa-motivated piece is a pleasure. Lullaby soliloquies ooze from Mathieu's frets and languish in dramatic spaciousness. Even though the guitar is steel strung, the transformation in style is towards a more classical / traditional bent. More Ypres and de Plata than his previous impressions of Yngwe and DiMeola. Noteable is that Mathieu has scored his compositions for standard tuning on a solo guitar played with a pick necessitating much use of open strings and alternative fingering as part of a study additionally supported by a scorebook of notation, which is also available. This well-crafted album is quite an awesome achievement and well worth giving it some attention.