With exceptional clarity of tone and a crisp, mellifluous touch, Leventopoulos reveals a refined sense of songcraft and a certain bluesy undercurrent in his phrasing, even in this intimate context. He cites the influence of Kevin Eubanks in his use of a more biting, percussive attack to vary the traditional fingerstyle approach. And thanks to those Neumann mics, we can hear Leventopoulos breathe as he shapes his melodic passages, heightening the music’s human feel.
There’s a pastoral sensibility throughout Songs for Acoustic Guitar, from the bright and flowing waltz “Wandering Thoughts” to the minor-key musings of “The River” and “Forest Breeze” and the balladic tranquility of “Sunny Afternoon.” The goal was to find “a flow that’s not self-conscious, that’s more like a real performance,” says Leventopoulos, and to that end the tracks were recorded in one or two takes with minimal if any edits. This allowed him to fully inhabit the earthy groove of “Remembrance” and navigate some of the most striking harmony of the set on the closing “Silence Within.”
1. The River
2. Wandering Thoughts
3. Forest Breeze
4. Sunny Afternoon
5. The Sky, The Clouds
6. For My Father
7. Remembrance
8. Silence Within
Apostolos Leventopoulos: guitar, composition, production
George Kariotis: recording, mixing engineer
Christos Zorbas: mastering engineer
