Mike Fazio — The Vast Apart

Here we have The Vast Apart, a curious project from experimental guitarist Mike Fazio which was apparently begun all the way back in 2007, left dormant, and only recently finished.  It also differs from his usual work by being a collection of short pieces, as he has often been inclined to fashion twenty minute longform collages.

What I consider to be Fazio's trademark sounds are in full effect: chordally imbued harmonized guitar and glassy celestial resonances that hint at consonant tonal systems, yet frolic unbounded by any meter, undulating playfully like aurora borealis.

Likely due to the originally concept this work as being the creation of a 'radio friendly ambient rock band', we have a greater emphasis on loops and rhythms than in a usual Fazio drift, and overall the music feels more organized.  Influence from post rock is clear, as warm e-bow drones anchor these pieces in decisive emotional spaces.  At times they match marvelously with their titles, particularly "Beautiful Losers (3AM, Figures by a Window)", which sums perfectly moments of intimate domestic idleness.

"The Empath (and Other Love Stories)" is a bleeding heart guitar soliloquy from Fazio, for once presenting himself without copious processing.  With his note choices presented naked as such, it becomes easier to analyze his style of melody, which, with its otherworldly liquidity, borrows most from jazz fusion, with hints of folk and blues.

I was surprised to hear "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair" covered here, as I've never heard any kind of sung vocals on any of Fazio's many projects.  His voice is raw and unsteady, but communicates an intense earnestness and nostalgia.  Perhaps coincidentally, a cover of this song was also the first and only instance that Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound ever made his voice heard on an album.  Comparatively, NWW's is the more straightforward cover, as this version is more like an ambient piece that incorporates a chunk of the lyrics.

The lone longform piece on this album "So Long, August Day" is a deeply serene and melancholic piece which centers again around Fazio's lovely exposed guitar playing, backed by harmonized whispers and fragments of speech.  It emphasizes Fazio's ability to summon a divine, shimmering, cloudlike environment from a small amount of musical content and clever processing.  Ghosts and presences seem to linger in every crevice of the spaciousness.  At times I recall classic Greek ambient musician Iasos and the angelic / celestial sphere in which he resided.  Their chord choices are similar.

All in all, I can see why Mike Fazio might return to these short fragmentary pieces so many times over the years, as they have a particular emotional poignancy.  A short album at thirty eight minutes, this is one of the most playable and affecting works of Fazio's career.