by Erik Hage

Young Montreal guitarist Erik Mongrain is a guitar virtuoso who rose from the ranks of street buskers, making his name via a unique playing style wherein he places his acoustic face up in his lap and taps out chords. On his debut album, Fates, he mostly plays his guitar in the "normal" position, yet there is still something striking and unique about these acoustic-guitar instrumentals. The primary thing that defines the execution of these compositions is texture; Mongrain offers up surprisingly rich and unique sounds, whether he's popping out percussive harmonics, engaging in prismatic flatpicking or hammering out unique basslines within his finger-picking framework. This is very bright and atmospheric music, and it's little wonder that his compositions are often chosen as the soundtrack to documentaries. The title track is one of the better examples of Mongrain's textural style and a good example of the broad collage of sound and atmosphere that he can get from one instrument. "Air Tap!" is a great example of Mongrain's highly original tapping technique.