CD Review By Kristen Sky Delve Phillips

Touch the Spirit

Rob Levit

Self Release

Symbol System Music

Reach out and touch the spirit of Rob Levit: with his new solo album featuring guitar, vocals, and percussion by the man himself. Touch the Spirit, offers a high supply of terrific tunes mixed with things that don’t quite work for this listener. The erratic blend of multicultural sounds feels more like an experiment in sound than a musical foray. Humans tend to relax to rhythm, melody and harmony. Without these familiar components and cultural context, the listener is somewhat baffled.

The music begins with what we’ll describe as Gregorian Chant meets the Fiddler on the Roof, located somewhere in the old West, and this cover titled cut places the listener comfortably inside itself before the tumultuous ride of stops and starts begins.

“The Stranger” (Track 9) springs instant attraction, a luring and submissive dancing resulting in seductive entanglement. It is mellow, melodic, and silky-smooth. “Drum Wisdom” is Sophia at her best…Picture the desert in the Middle East (but safer). As you begin to hear brass sounds and tinkering symbols, your excitement increases, but you plummet into a sort of outer realm of “Bremen Town Musicians.”With tracks like “Disjunction Blues” (6) and “My Empress Shall not Weep” (13), you may find yourself back in “Music Appreciation 101,” this quarter taught by an experimental jazz version of Dr. Frankenstein. If this sounds like fun on a Friday night for you, these two tracks may soon become your two new favorites. “The Borderland” (14) lures me right back to Levit’s good side. The fresh beats and tunes beckon the hippy-child in me to throw caution to the wind and ice-skate naked with Mocha-Valencia in hand. Talk about invigorating inspiration - I love this piece!

As for the other 19 songs on this C.D., you can expect a colorful spectrum in this musical puzzle. You will hear sounds reminiscent of other artists and much that seems totally new. Prepare to be delighted, and sometimes a bit confused.

With a world of technique at his disposal, Levit has released 17 CDs of original music. An artist-in-residence at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, he has produced over a dozen concerts there for the Lew Cronin Memorial Concert Series. Can exposure to new sounds be shifting his shape? He was recently selected as one of eight artists for a fellowship to UCLA’s Center for Intercultural Performance. In Los Angeles, he’ll be collaborating with artists from India, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. We can’t wait to hear the fruit of that experience. Check out the artist’s web site at: www.roblevit.com