AMG Review of Hotel Vast Horizon

Jesse Jarnow
All Music Guide

Like Bob Dylan, Chris Whitley's music is deeply informed by the blues. But, also like Dylan, it is defined by a weird rhythmic amorphousness. What at first seems like indistinct strumming is soon brought into shape by angular melodies delivered in Whitley's unmistakable voice -- deep and seemingly sedated. Chord changes are transparent, falling in odd places and practically unrelated to his strumming. None of this is a bad thing. Whitley's music is powerfully original. On 2001's Rocket House, he employed a virtual orchestra of electronic sounds, which provided a fitting frame for his otherworldly mumble-howl. With Hotel Vast Horizon, Whitley returns to more bare settings. The music is created by Whitley (playing guitar and banjo) with bassist Heiko Schramm and drummer Matthias Macht. And though the instrumentation is traditional, he manages to retain a fundamental strangeness throughout, almost defined by the absence of further arrangement. The results are not easy listening, but they are deeply compelling.