Strat Andriotis – EXITS

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Jazz
Strat Andriotis – EXITS

There are times when I struggle to embrace an album, and this is one such occasion. Being particularly attuned to sound and style, I must confess that this guitarist’s tone and his overtly rock-infused influences leave me a jaded spectator before this record. It is a rare thing for me to be unable to listen to an album’s tracks in their entirety, yet here, such was the case with every single piece. I was struck by the strange sensation of hearing the same motifs repeated from one end to the other, as though trapped in an endless loop. Not everyone is Mike Stern—an evident truth, made all the more glaring in this instance.

Born in Greece, Andriotis emigrated with his family to Hamilton, Ontario, as a child. After years of studying piano and improvising over Cream and Jimi Hendrix records, his life was irrevocably changed the moment he first encountered Miles Davis’s seminal In a Silent Way, which propelled him headlong into the world of jazz.

The only track on this album that earns even a modicum of my favor is While We Wait, and even then, the pleasure is fleeting. Once past the introduction, one is met yet again with that same excessively verbose guitar—shrill, overly electrified, and swiftly grating to the ear.

I resigned myself by the fifth track, unable to endure more than sixty seconds of each piece. It is a rare occurrence indeed that I find an album so devoid of intrigue that it fails even to pique my curiosity to witness its musicians perform live—but such is the case here. What we have is a strident cacophony of needless verbosity, a guitar that suffocates everything in its path, and a rhythm section that appears deeply disengaged, except when contributing sporadic bursts of noise to the prevailing disarray.

Since the dawn of 2025, we have been privileged to receive albums of truly exceptional caliber and in great abundance. Thus, we cannot in good faith recommend this recording—unless, of course, you are an unflinching devotee of this guitarist. For us, it shall be but a single star, out of respect for the undeniable strain that recording sessions impose upon musicians.

Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News

PARIS-MOVE, February 4th 2025

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