“Thunder Bay’s red-haired flamenco guy,” as guitarist Matt Sellick describes himself, offers a vibrant and exciting collection of 11 luxuriant tracks on his sophomore album Nocturne. The album is beautifully and bountifully laced with the influences of Spain, where Sellick spent four summers studying with some of the world’s most influential flamenco guitarists. Nocturne establishes a lustrous atmosphere on tracks like “Midnight Storm,” on which Sellick’s guitar becomes almost vocally expressive, and “Mile End,” which seems to tell a story through deep and resonant stringed voices. Standout tracks include “Siguiriya,” with its pulse of beats and claps, “Cypress,” a gentle, rhapsodic, vibrant showcase of Sellick’s skill, and “Carrera del Darro,” —full-bodied and resplendent with luscious rhythms. Also noteworthy is “Gratitude,” which gently plays with one’s sense of rhythm with a lilting dance of strums and strains, and “Knockbox”—passionate and hypnotic, a testimony to Sellick’s stylish ingenuity.
-Kyle Poluyko