Lenny Breau Cabin Fever (Guitarchives)
Reviewed by Heather McLeod

There are albums that you fall in love with slowly, one song at a time as they come to your attention. Then there are those like guitarist Lenny Breau’s solo album Cabin Fever that are best loved in their entirety, hearing each song as a chapter in a single story.

Cabin Fever is a celebration of improvisation and contemplation of the nature of creativity. It is quite literally a slice of time- fifty-two minutes, recorded without interruption in a converted granary, heated by a wood stove and powered by an oil generator. In these nine cuts Breau drifts from jazz standard (What is This Thing called Love? and Days of Wine and Roses) to improvisation and composition (East Side and Celtic Dream Stream) and back again. It is a rare and simple depiction of the circular stillness within which art is so often born.

This unedited spontaneity is both the most beguiling trait and the most frustrating of this CD. There is a breathtaking intimacy to this recording, but there is also too little form. Most of the tunes have a clearly stated beginning but few have endings. The ideas just trail way. Without any other instruments to indicate the form as it is improvised upon, the direction is often unclear and impetus is lost. By the end of the album Breau’s musical touchstones are almost too familiar, beautiful as each may be.

This Breau album is a rare testament to the nature of creativity. Despite some lack of focus and narrative drive, it is beguiling in its spontaneity and sheer musicality. Listen closely to Breau’s Cabin Fever from beginning to end and you just may find yourself falling in love.

Heather McLeod is a Montreal-based singer-songwriter, who recently released a new CD of original music, Funny Thing.