Sean Smith

Instrumental guitar albums can wear out their welcome very fast, as they often take far too many detours into long stretches of fatuous dissonance or pander to traditional pieces that have been done a hundred times before by far better players. Twenty-four-year-old native Californian Sean Smith manages to not only command the listener's attention from the very first note, but keep it fixated throughout his auspicious debut. Recorded alone in a local gallery, Smith is that rare bird of a guitarist who keeps things melodic enough for the novice and just unpredictable enough for the seasoned progressive folk fan. Even on a marathon number like "Someone Somewhere Has Sensed That I Am a Frightened Man," Smith keeps things moving at such a human pace that like a good novel, it's impossible not to try and fit another chapter in before going to bed.