**** Fred Frith

EYE TO EAR

(Tzadik)

Fred Frith's been making some of the most beautiful music of his career since moving to Germany a few years back. This sampler of his recent compositions from films, television, and the stage begins with the comfortably slithering slide-guitar-based "Le Rencontre: Title Theme" and eases through gentler soundscapes than the avant guitarist/violinist/noisemaker/composer is generally known for. Of course, there are eruptions; his "Backroom II" sports the kind of melodramatic cacophony that became his calling card as a member of outfits like Skeleton Crew or the many improvising duos he performed with after his tenure in the pioneering art-rock bands Henry Cow and the Art Bears. But his nearly 10-minute extract "Picture of Light" is as beautiful and unhurried as director Peter Mettler's documentary of the same name -- which took a long view of the Aurora Borealis. Frith plays most of the instruments here -- percussion, violin, and guitar primarily, and it takes some listening to discern that the cathedral bells, will-o'-the-wisp calls, twisting metal, and glockenspiel-like "tings" are actually his guitar. But his writing for horns, reeds, and keys displays his fusion of folk music, classicism, and textural conjuring just as ably as his own singular virtuosity. This album's a quiet gem.

-- Ted Drozdowski