Welcome to a new edition of "For The Record." Guitarist and composer Jay Katana’s new debut solo offering is titled "...Brighter Than Your Future.” While your rockin’ reviewer will not make any assumptions about the readers’ future, if this initial audio offering as a solo artist is any indication, Jay Katana certainly has a bright future ahead of him. A native of Moldova in Eastern Europe and member of the East Coast-based rock-metal band, Pool of Thorns, his reputation for his technique and range are amply exhibited on this new EP.
“...Brighter Than Your Future” is an instrumental work which merges dance beats with heavy metal guitar riffs.
The absence of vocals was no accident either. In a recent e-interview with "Indie Pulse Music," Katana explained it was a reaction to still being able to play the guitar despite an accident in which he almost lost his left hand. At one point, he had been unsure he would ever be able to play again so he made himself a promise that once he was discharged from the hospital he would record what he hoped would be “the best guitar instrumental record ever.” It took him just four nights to write and produce the tracks.
Track by track
The opening track is the brief “Free Styler.” Vaguely reminiscent of Van Halen at moments, it provides an intro that draws the listener into the second selection “No Time 2b Sorry.” it is here, he is taking his audience on a journey.
By the time ballad “I Need You Now (...I should’ve chosen your friend the night we met)” closes, in which he articulates specific phrases using his guitar and vocal dynamics, his signature sound has become clear. Katana confirmed his guitar heroes to be less contemporary. His music is influenced by the likes of Val Gaina, Paul Gilbert, Scotti Hill, Sergey Mavrin, Glenn Tipton, and Steve Vai.
Katana moves in another direction with the dubstep number “Sand’s Ex.” Co-composed and produced with A Very Loud Death’s Chris Edge, it features what in a press release he calls “plucked” keypads and “Oriental layers.” The quieter and more introspective acoustic cut “When She Dies” is Katana’s way of touching on a missing portion of “the emotional spectrum.”
Katana takes a trick from those who have gone before him and allows the silence to speak for him too.
“K-Koda” is a quick, rockin’ album endnote that leaves listeners wondering and wanting more.
