Eric Peterson began playing the guitar at age 7, but not seriously until age 15 when he received his first electric guitar. Hooked on the dominant guitar bands of the 80’s at the time, Eric influences now include Steve Lukather, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Neal Schon, Michael Hedges, and Christoper Parkening. Eric who has been in various bands over the years, and also teaches the instrument, currently prefers working and collaborating as a solo artist and studio musician. Eric has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in IT Security and works by day as an IT Security Engineer and certified ethical hacker.
Eric Peterson’s latest recording venture is the 11 track acoustic-guitar instrumental album “Glare”. Boldly emblazoning every musical nuance and idea he can conjure, Eric plays with a practiced expertise that is dispersed throughout the record.
His relationship with his instrument of choice results in a sound akin to a conversation between old friends. Eric is a virtuoso at playing the acoustic guitar in an accomplished and involved way, and it would be easy for his albums to get suffocated by high-level instrumental proficiency.
But there’s a looseness, a melodic spontaneity which gives the tracks on this album a kind of natural effervescence. The soundscapes are airy and light infused with tons of melodic playing rather than wild pyrotechnics unto itself.
Eric Peterson’s is an amazing musician, and your first thought may be that his playing could potentially overshadow his incredible writing and arranging skills, but with “Glare”, they all fuse into a glorious panorama of New Age and World Music sound.
Rarely do you find an acoustic artist so gifted as to make a guitar do what it supposed to do: convey imagery without lyrical content, or imply a feeling found nowhere else. This is exactly what Eric Peterson’s has done in “Glare”.
The album full of ambience, melodic playing, character and well developed songs. It’s one of those that you play and have to set on repeat because it’ll be over much too soon. The songs you’ll back to, more often than not to my mind, will include “One Oared Lifeboat”, “Pulling Together”, “Nothing But Awe”, “Normally Demoralizing” and “My Odyssey”.
Pretty much everything works on this record, with tracks ranging from enchanting mood pieces to lively rhythmic stomps, and Eric’s technical competence is matched by brilliant, fleshed-out compositions.
It’s not just technique that puts “Glare” in a lofty position among instrumental acoustic-guitar albums; Eric Peterson crafts songs that give purpose for all that heady technique. He can move through complex and extended arrangements to beautifully pastoral melody, punctuated by occasional, solo outbursts on the guitar.
Moreover, Eric carefully tempers the emotion, allowing the songs to ebb and flow like a symphony, while the melody is always the centerpiece of his music, and what will ultimately draw a varied audience towards this recording.
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