Faraz - Abstract Point Of View

2004, the guitar work by Faraz Anwar on Abstract Point Of View covers a lot of ground and has some very intricate and speedy passages. Faraz being a self-proclaimed disciple of Allan Holdsworth, this came as no surprise to me after listening to the album and searching the liner notes for clues about his influences. One characteristic that I truly enjoyed about Faraz’s approach, was that despite that he integrates a lot of outside harmonization and unorthodox scales, he does this in a manner that weaves this complex harmonization into cohesive music with a distinctive and readily-perceivable musical vision. This is truly a difficult objective to undertake, and Faraz has done this on this album with awesome success. Faraz has struck a tenuous balance between tonal exploration and cohesive musical vision that will keep captive the attention of progressive musicians in pondering it. This being said, I feel obligated to point out that much of the harmonization is outside and approaching dissonant boundarie,s and this may be difficult for some to digest, though I suspect that the educated ear is going to indulge in this harmonious feast.