Ubiquity
2007
Voices & Choices
About This Album
Though it's not part of the made-for-soundtrack Strings and Things: Ubiquity Studio Sessions three-part series that Shawn Lee and his "Ping Pong Orchestra" issued, there's still a lot about Voices and Choices that resembles a film score, from the Mission Impossible bass-and-vocal line of "Changing Times" to the blaxpoitation keyboard in "Tense Bossa" to the Ennio Morricone chord changes of "JW." Lee is a gifted composer and musician, playing everything on the record except the woodwinds and horns, sapient of what it takes to create a successful piece, layering guitar and keyboard lines expertly, giving space for the occasional flute or trumpet riff to break through; nothing is ostentatious, but because it's all produced very cleanly, the instruments certainly make their presence known. But more than in the electric riffs and contemplative lounge progressions, Lee's true talents lie in the rhythm section. With understated drums and a prominent bass, he makes beats that enhance the other instruments while still holding them in place. This grounding allows for a kind of looseness to develop in the tracks' overall feel, even though they're tightly composed, which not only adds to the effectiveness of the music as, in the case of film, a plot developer, it also means that it works well with lyrics.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,12,13 and 15)

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