Fates

Erik Mongrain | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 26, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Prophase Music
• ASIN: B000OYAT26
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,322 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: MONGRAIN,ERIK
Title: FATES
Street Release Date: 06/26/2007
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable acoustic guitar, August 13, 2007

By 

Phillip Armour "malicorneus" (Deer Park, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fates (Audio CD)

We use the word "unbelievable" for all manner of things, most of which are really quite believable. But in this case it is is not hyperbole.

I have personally played guitar for over 40 years. I have seen many of the greatest guitarists live: from Hendrix to Segovia, from John Williams to John Renbourn, from Pete Townshend to Christopher Parkening to Muriel Anderson to Sharon Isbin. And now from Eric Clapton to Erik Mongrain.

As great as it is, and as is the case with any truly ground-breaking music, the recorded version scarcely does justice to the real thing. Here's how it goes:
M. Mongrain plays a Rainsong, a carbon fibre guitar made in Hawai'i that has a sharp bright sound and is probably the only guitar that would put up with what he does to it. As well as the usual strumming and finger-picking techniques, Erik provides his own percussion accompaniment by rapping, tapping, and plain banging on the soundboard and top of the guitar. So far so good. He also uses extensive pull-offs with the left hand as well as, in time with, and in counterpoint to the right hand picks and strums. Then he raps the strings with I think both the ends and backs of his fingers on both hands to create sound just like a hammer dulcimer. He uses using open strings, fretted strings and harmonics in combinations to do all of the above. Then while he is doing the above, he tunes and retunes his guitar mid way through the songs. Wow.

He does all this all at the same time and really fast with, well, unbelievable rhythms. The CD is intrinsically very good indeed but somehow knowing that he produces all these amazing sounds (including a bass drone that I don't know HOW he can achieve on an acoustic guitar) in one sitting with one guitar and one set of hands makes it even more impressive.

The CD can be heard at an easy listening melodic level or, if you care to invest the attention, a jazz-like depth of interacting layers of music melodies, bass lines and both complementary and opposing rhythms. Some of the tracks, particularly Geometrie d'une Erreur have a Philip Glass symmetry and simplicity where the complexity is realized only over a period of time, while Percussien Fa and Air Tap give the ear a workout and show what this man can do.

Get this.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!, July 9, 2007

By 

Lance Trumbull (Portland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fates (Audio CD)

An incredible achievement. Erik Mongrain has done something original: he has fused amazing technique with grace, style, and feeling - in a word, he is musical!

I definetely recommend this album.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two Words: "Air Tap", July 26, 2011

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fates (Audio CD)

Okay, I'm a little late to the party when it comes to singing the praises of Canadian guitarist Erik Mongrain. Unfortunately, I didn't know of him until this year when a friend sent me a link to a YouTube video.

If you have not yet watched this 3-minute video for "Air Tap" (and more than 5 million viewers have!) then get prepared to be blown away. This song is an excellent example of the two-hand tapping technique Mongraine utilizes to coax some pretty amazing sounds from his acoustic guitar. I haven't been this impressed by a debut album from a guitar player in a long time. [And his 2008 follow-up album EQUILIBRIUM is just as good.] VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED [Running time - 41:23]