Once more Michael Kazalski stuns us with a mature, balanced, and musically rich creation that steers away from all else we’ve heard from him so far.
‘Walking Wounded’, a reimagined version of a song Kazalski wrote in the 80s, sees the gifted bassist/songwriter venture into the world of progressive rock with its innate mystery and rhythmic twists, which are effortlessly embraced by Kazalski’s melodic and songwriting talent.
Based in Portsmouth, Virginia, Michael Kazalski is a veteran musician whose vision and capabilities never cease to amaze and surprise us. Exemplified on this song, we can see the bassist’s affinity for diving deep and headfirst into whichever genre he’s experimenting with at the moment. With its sea of syrupy pads, a wealth of doom-bearing bells, a composition that holds a certain mystique in its chord sequences, and a rich arrangement that takes influence stylistically from Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell, Michael Kazalski works each of his songs to the limits of sonic potential, resulting in uniform and cohesive pieces of work that cover a vast array of musical genres, while maintaining a certain soft, gentle, and distinctively warm sonic fingerprint.
The subtle rhythmic twists on ‘Walking Wounded’ are masterful and efficient, just adding this gentle nudge to make the song more eerie and mysterious, without being even a little challenging. A rather delicately crafted piece that I believe is among Michael Kazalski’s better pieces of work. And with that sublime synth solo, there is little space for improvement on ‘Walking Wounded’.
