Trey Gunn's "Music for Pictures"

I first encountered the Warr guitar in the hands of 99 Names of God’s Mark Cook. The thing looked like an aircraft carrier and allowed the player to play lead, rhythm, and bass lines simultaneously. The technique involved went way past the exhibitionism of Van Halen and all those neck-tapping Italo-Americans from the ‘80s, harking back instead to the orchestral style of ‘60s Canadian virtuoso Lenny Breau and jazz cat Stanley Jordan.

One of the, um, masters of Warr is Trey Gunn, a Texas-born, classically-trained muso currently based in Seattle. From 1994 to 2003, he was a member of King Crimson, playing in the “double trio” lineup alongside Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, and Pat Mastelotto, as well as smaller units. His project Quodia integrates live music with film and storytelling. He’s been writing and performing scores for TV and films since 1998; his new CD, Music for Pictures, compiles 29 pieces from his multimedia scores, accompanied by drummers including his ex-Crimson bandmate Mastelotto and Seattle stalwart Matt Cameron, and vocalist Beth Quist.

Gunn’s audio dreamscapes are alternately arty and atmospheric, cerebral and surreal, moody and minimalist, pastoral and pointillistic. While the music might not be designed to hold your attention absent an image – through his website, Gunn’s currently inviting filmmakers, animators, and video artists to create images to accompany the tracks -- Music for Pictures can provide a useful subliminal soundtrack for your day-to-day activities even without visual accompaniment. It’s really a collection of miniatures, with most of the tracks running two minutes or less. Still, a few of the pieces stand out: “Nausicaa” hits like modern classical music, while “Cigarette in a Cornfield” increases the heaviosity and “Spirit of Flight” ups the prog quotient. Closing track, “The Ghosts Listen,” is a 21-minute movie-for-your-ears.