Element Series: Fire

The title Fire might suggest roiling textures or a conflagration of sound, but this volume of Peter Kater's four-disc Elements series is golden sunsets and hearthside caresses. Purely acoustic, Fire has a nostalgic aura. Paul McCandless’s pennywhistles and Ludvig Girdland’s violin lend it a Celtic flavor on tracks like “Eternal Sunshine,” while on “The Way Home” that same fiddle takes on a tinge of Americana, framing McCandless’s forlorn oboe and Kater's pensive piano. In fact, Kater sounds like he’s writing words on a page, contemplating each note before he lets it drop. The entire disc has the intuitive feel of guided improvisations, like you might expect from highly-attuned jazz players, but with a greater concern for the ensemble sound than the individual solo. It's difficult to play music this introspective, and sometimes it feels painfully slow, but guided by a sense of melancholy and contemplation, Peter Kater and company pull it off.