Few musos have mastered the art of instrumental rock as dextrously as Joe Satriani. Satriani’s instrumental records are largely driven by poetry; he uses a broad palette of tones to paint spacious and vastly populated soundscapes, each serving to frame a story told through a language based on musical passages. A grisly, overdriven solo can portray a sense of doom, for example, each thundering note representing an actual jolt of thunder.
On the track ‘Faceless’, for example, Satriani explores themes of loneliness – “when the person you want to see you for who you really are doesn’t seem to recognise you” – where its cathartic solo “represents one’s true self finally breaking free”. It’s track three on Satriani’s 18th solo album, , which the Westbury, New York-native shredder said could be considered the “new standard” by which instrumental albums cornered Satch to chat more about his ambitious vision for .
