Chamber Music

It’s always good to see young guitarists coming through and flying the flag for acoustic instrumental music. Miami-based Conor Moore spent time studying jazz but has seemingly found his nook in the American primitive style guitar genre. Chamber Music is very much a solo effort and has been recorded with the minimum of fuss and frills; there is a pleasing simplicity to this approach, and it leaves Conor nowhere to hide. Thankfully, he’s good for it, with a pretty solid technique and plenty of creativity. That’s not to say the performances are perfect; the rhythm wavers here and there, and Conor is clearly still carving out his own style, but it’s all charming stuff. The cover of Ali Farka Touré’s and Toumani Diabaté’s ‘56’ is a delight, as are both slide pieces, the haunting ‘Oklawaha’ and the jauntier ‘Swanee River’, which is a little gem at just over a minute long. Plenty to enjoy then, and a lot of potential.