PHWG

Review by Gary Hill

Those who like melodic instrumental progressive rock will enjoy this. I hear a lot of Steve Howe in this, but also plenty of Jarre, Vai and Satriani, as well. It’s a good disc that manages to entertain without vocals. That’s often quite a difficult feat.

WELCOME
This twenty-three second long cut is just sound effects as an introduction.
BLUE
Pretty music rises up from the humble beginnings and this takes on a definite keyboard dominated texture. Then scorching guitar brings in sounds that are closer to something from Steve Vai or Joe Satriani. As this carries on there are moments that make me think of Steve Howe. Keyboards re-take the lead further down the road. Then the two elements meet in a fusion-like arrangement that’s quite cool.

BENGAL
Here we get a bit more of a pure rock motif, but there’s still plenty of other elements keeping it interesting. This is a lot more guitar oriented in nature. The comparisons to Satriani and Vai are again warranted.

DONT DO IT
This is a trip. It’s got a space rock meets jazz texture and there’s a real mysterious sound to this. Sound effects and percussion wander about the arrangement. It takes us through a number of changes and alterations, but never loses sight of its roots.

FUNKIFIED
Coming in super heavy, this is (in case you can’t tell by the title) quite funky. It’s another strong rocker that might make you think of Satriani and Vai.

FLOAT
This is built on a rich musical tapestry that combines a mellower segment with almost Yes-like sounds. The only thing I’d peg as a negative is the canned rhythm section we hear at times. There’s some more Satriani-like guitar here and there.

RACE ACROSS INDIA
Starting a bit sedate and quite melodic this grows up into a very powerful piece of music. As one might guess there is plenty of Indian musical elements here.

MOVEMENT I
Here’s another cut that feels a lot like something from Steve Howe. This is another strong track and actually one of my favorites on show. It’s quite a diverse and dynamic piece and just plain awesome.

DOWN STREAM
This comes in like a bluesy rocker, but shifts out to more Steve Howe-like territory as it carries on. There’s a cool retro (Iron Butterfly-like) keyboard sound late in the piece over the top of a smoking guitar solo.

DAYS AHEAD
Dramatic and at times bouncy, this feels a little like Pink Floyd in places. I love the powerful climbing section later and the mellower resolution is quite cool, too.

INTERMISSION II
Don’t get confused, you did not miss “Intermission I.� Gunve just skipped straight to the second one. Van Halen meets Yes on this fast paced cut. At just over a minute in length, this is also a short one.

TIME RUNNER
In some ways this doesn’t vary a lot from some of the other music here. At least that applies to the opening segment. It suddenly gets slowed down, though and then moves into purely percussive territory to carry on. From there it moves into Hawkwind-like space. This is taken into some Eastern Indian styled zones with the Hawkwind elements still driving it. It is worked through a few variants and themes before ending.

DRIFT
This starts off with melodic progressive rock and that carries it for a while, but it shifts into dissonant territory for a while, too.

MOVEMENT II
He saved the best for last. This starts fairly modestly but grows into the most powerful piece of music on show here. All the elements from the rest of the album are present and much of this reminds me quite a bit of Pink Floyd. There’s a weird spacey section in the middle of the track. From there we are taken to a twisted carnival and then we get some off key xylophone and then percussion takes over. Sound effects take it up to a very short trip to an asylum. - Music Street Journal

A light green ambient cityscape where tall Victorian styled buildings reach the sky. A slightly distorted visual collage of trees and traffic down below. MOVEMENTS in big block letters. M o v e m e n t s, I say slowly and think about this word. It leaves much to the imagination. I love a mystery and from the cover of this album and the thought provoking one word title… I think a mystery is what I might have in my hands here.

I hit play and the first thing that reaches my ears is a symphony of digital rain drops coming from all directions. After about 30 seconds of this downpour, rich synth chords float across the sky, tabla beats kick in with a killer guitar lead. This song is only building and building into a monster of a jam and not at all what I had expected from the first few seconds. With every turn of this tune something new is introduced in the mix. I’m loving this and now I’m guessing what the next song is going to bring and what this promising album is going to become.

I continue to listen to Movements closely and each track surprises me with new sounds of ambience, soft noise, progressive rock, classically composed guitar, eastern instrumentation and experimentation. Something I notice right away is that one track runs into the next like an audible collage. I personally love this style of recording and producing an album, and I like to listen to an album like reading a book, with one chapter after another. The intros and outros weave their way in and out of each song and are masterfully crafted, and extremely experimental in nature. Something that I really like about Movements is the world instrumentation that is added. It’s a shame that such stylings are hugely ignored by modern western music.

I start to close in on the last few minutes of Movements and I can visualize myself dropping in on this faded green cityscape passing each cloud and then every window on my downward descent to the ground below. I get closer and people and cars come into clear focus. Now, I can even hear their voices and street noise and sounds of a bustling metropolis. These are the sounds of life, and PHWG has placed an excellent sample of these things at the very end of Movements. The final goodbye… until the next album. Maybe a trip around the city?

After listening to Movements in its entirety and reflecting on the album, I have decided that this doesn’t easily fit into any standard genre, and that is a really good thing. I’ve stopped trying to analyze why I like certain music types or even more, certain bands or artists. I come up with a blank page. A great album has to have something extra to really grab and hold my attention. Something a little different. Something that makes me want to press play or put the needle back on the groove. I think that is why I enjoy Movements so much. It is definitely a rock album at heart but is equal parts of so much more.

Review by Kenn Deaton - http://www.reviewyou.com

I cannot say much, except that this is how all music should sound. My highest respects to you, PHWG, I anxiously anticipate your next album. - CDbaby

PHWG stands for Pontus H.W. Gunve and you should remember that name. Pontus was born and raised in Sweden where he attended a rock n roll high school. He has a masters in Music Technology from NYU and has also studied the sitar in India. Gunve is a guitar prodigy ala the likes of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani while his interest in programmed beats like his music to Radiohead and Beck as well. On his second solo release "Movements" Gunve experimented with heavy synthesized beats, many different types of guitar styles blending them all into something that is quite his own. All the music is instrumental and the beats transcend, spiral and never quite conform to any single extremity of modern song element. Gunve's live shows also make for a rather psychedelic time. His use of visual elements such as lightning and trippy backdrops heighten the visual experience complementing the songs. Gunve is a master of his own craft and "Movements" is one hell of a masterpiece.
- Lindsey Lawless - Deli Magazine