At the tender age of twenty six, Greg Davis has already lived out an impressive chapter of his music career. As well as spending time DJing, producing and MCing in his native New York, gaining a Masters of Music in Composition plus a degree in Jazz Studies has no doubt given him the foresight and the courage to tackle music in an unconventional way.
'Arbor', Davis' debut album (surprisingly not released on his own label, Autumn Records) is a tenderly subdued and, often languishing meander through experimental electronica. Ethereal soundscapes of chimes, mismatched beats and folk tinged melodies create images of aural fantasy and dreamlike mantras.
At points, he takes his artistic licence to the limit ("Cumulus"), self-indulging and abusing this opportunity to create and make noise - to a point where the pleasure of listening begins to verge on irritation.
The vast majority of the album however, is an eye-opening experience; a delve into the world of a classically trained musical mind.
Delicately plucked acoustic guitars play a large part. The title track "Arbor", for example is bedecked in their fragile melancholia. Surprisingly, the Bagpuss theme tune springs to mind (!). Then like the mice on the mouse organ it springs into uptempo action, culminating in a crescendo of turgid guitar strings and xylophones.
"Walking Home" further changes the course with charged basslines ingeniously mixed with flaky vocals and fragmented metronomes.
Think Brian Eno crossed with the occasional 23 Skidoo raw drum beat plus the heart tugging harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel and you are pretty much there.
This particular story is one that could most definitely develop into an epic novel.
