Guitarist brad allen williams is known for his work as a hired gun for soul rocker Brittany Howard and jazz/funk drum genius Nate Smith, so you think you know where he’s coming from when he straps on his ax. For his first solo album œconomy, however, williams journeys in another direction entirely. Joined by eclectic drummer Mark Guiliana (Donny McCaslin, St. Vincent, Avishai Cohen) and a string quartet, the guitarist plugs his instrument into synthesizers and boards of electronics, creating a fascinating series of soundscapes that seem to have dropped in from another reality entirely. Waves of distortion and the pound of industrial percussion power “Paean” and “Boomer” while floating on dreamy textures and occasional acoustic guitars. The sample-heavy “Her Sidebar (Yield)” glitches like a vinyl record with a faulty needle, while the lush “Tecnologia” drifts on a sea of string arrangements. “Conomy” supports twanging guitar and chiming synths over a foundation of burbling drum ‘n’ bass, while “An Artifice” conjures dreams of a tangerine color – at least until williams unleashes his prodigious jazz chops in bursts of blue. Williams and producer Pete Min have keen ears for juxtaposing sonics from different traditions without sounding jarring, and œconomy shows that his musicality refuses to be confined to a single box.
