From La Tribune, Sherbrooke, March 9, 2019
Fans of guitar and inspiring beautiful music will certainly be delighted with this sixth album by Calum Graham, who has brought us one of his most accomplished albums to date. Impressive and sensitive.
Calum Graham is one of these musicians with a rare talent: at 27 years old, with a career that takes him all over the world, his impressive virtuosity and his unique fingerstyle, the Alberta guitarist now offers us his sixth album, precise, sensitive and exciting. Thread of Creation is an open window on the extraordinary abilities of this exceptional artist.
The one that Acoustic Guitar Magazine named one of the 30 best guitarists under 30 years of age in the world will amaze us, almost splitting up on the instrument. If the composer Graham does not sin for excess of audacity, the virtuoso guitarist is in perfect control of his means, extirpating rhythms, bass and transcendental melodies from his guitar alone. Between frenetic excitement, sensitivity, tenderness and generosity, Calum Graham knows how to convince people of the accuracy of his approach.
Recorded at L'Assomption, produced with a beautiful sobriety by Quebec guitarist Antoine Dufour, Thread of Creation highlights, through a subtle interplay of reverberations, Calum Graham's almost magical fingering, and his ability to create so many musical layers of beauty and humanity. One could have the impression of hearing more than one instrument on these compositions, so much the fingerstyle gives the musician great freedom.
"When you listen to this style for the first time, you get the impression that three guitars are playing at the same time. I play the bass score with my left hand and the melody with my right. It covers bass, melody and rhythm. It's like a small orchestra with only one guitar. It creates a lot of possibilities for a solo guitarist.