US artist Andrew WEATHERS appears to be one of many artists with a fairly direct association to US label Silber Records, and from what I can see on the net Weathers is a rather productive and active artist as well. His 2013 EP “They Turned the Heat On” is his contribution to Silber Records ongoing “5 in 5” conceptual range of EPs.

Among all the different kinds of music I cover in a year, I’ll have to admit that Weather explores a type of music that generally don’t fond too much favor for me. It’s not that I don’t like the banjo as an instrument as such, it’s more a case of that particular instrument being one I associate first and foremost with Country music, a type of music I generally don’t find too intriguing.

As this is an EP of improvisations that aspect isn’t as influential as it otherwise might have been, but the 5 minutes of brief improvisations didn’t manage to engage me at any major level either. Slight shifts in pace and intensity and alternating sections of resonating individual notes and set patterns explored also in variations is what we’re given five different instances of here, but I’ll have a hard time explaining any marked difference between them.

I’ll have to conclude that this production isn’t one exploring a brand of music that will easily fascinate me, but that anyone with a strong affection for the banjo as an instrument and especially those who enjoy listening to banjo improvisations most likely will find the 5 minutes of this EP to be compelling.

My rating: 60/100