By Jeff Kubik
It’s been bothering you again, hasn’t it? Sure, you’re a 40-year-old accountant with a CKUA bumper sticker and a monthly pledge, but there’s a gaping, CD-shaped hole in your soul. You’re not eclectic enough, and you damned well know it. Enter Juno-winning Oscar Lopez and his retrospective album, Flashback.
Flashback delivers as it promises–with Oscar Lopez playing acoustic guitar. The album looks back on 15 years of composition and performance and includes the previously unreleased “Merenguiando Baby,” a track whose lively, intricate style showcases Lopez’s remarkable technical proficiency as well as his ability to create a rich, compelling Latin sound. With minimal accompaniment, or percussion, Lopez’s soulful guitar creates tracks whose gentle sound is sensual enough to calm even the most disgruntled corporate desk jockey. If it’s mellow ambience that you crave, then this is a CD you simply cannot be without.