MICHAEL FITZSIMMONS

Skin on Skin

DancingMan Music (2002)

review by Bill Binkelman

If you think an album comprised mostly of various drums, percussion and flutes can't be mystical, haunting and beautiful as well as rhythmic and vibrant, you obviously haven't heard Skin on Skin from master drummer/percussionist/flutist Michael Fitzsimmons. I always considered Fitzsimmons' Light in the Village to be an overlooked masterpiece. On this recording, he actually eclipses the aforementioned Light... Skin on Skin is a stunning achievement, especially when you consider that all the instruments (except for one guest-starring appearance on vocals from Susan Guthrie) are played by Fitzsimmons himself.

Here's a brief rundown of what you'll hear on Skin on Skin: hand drums, logdrums, drum set, kalimbas, Mbiras, ritual rattles, seed pods, bronze bells, dulcimer, Lakota flutes, Brazilian percussion flutes, bamboo flutes, and carved wooden whistles. There is even a smattering of dicrete and judiciously-employed synthesizers (they are positively textbook in how they are used to compliment some songs).

Obviously, if you're a lover of percussion and drums, aquiring this album is a no brainer. For others, you'll be amazed at how diverse the music on Skin on Skin is. This is not just some high energy percolating orgasm of rhythms. Fitzsimmons takes the listener on a virtual tour of all manner and types of percussion and does so in a dazzling variety of moods, tempos, and compostional approaches (thanks to his adroit skills with various flutes).

I wish I had the space here to describe each track in detail, because they all deserve it. However, there are thirteen of them. The album opens in high-spirited fashion with the aptly-titled "Holy Cha Cha," set aflame with pulsing hand drums (sounding like bongos), shakers, and assorted tuned percussion (so that the various drums have a musical quility to them). "Moovin'" slows the tempo down and adds the first of many wind instruments, this one being a high-pitched whistle, which flits above the drum set and hand drums like a fluttering bird. It's fascinating to hear how seamlessly Fitzsimmons has integrated the modern drum kit (snare, tom-toms, bass, wooden block) with the more organic sound of ethnic hand drums. A tropical melodic refrain plays underneath the percussion (this may be the synthesizer) while a wooden flute adds some sparse accompaniment. "Prayer Drums" moves the music into a subtle Eastern/spiritual (yet still rhythmic) direction, with kalimba, struck bronze bells, bell trees, rattles, and a few other percussion instruments.

"Paradise Found" is the track where Susan Guthrie adds her vocal talents. The song opens with wind chimes and rainstick, joined by hand drums in a midtempo rhythm. Later, more percussion elements are added, along with some flutes. The track has a mystical island feel to it - primal and sensual. The flute wafts lazily in the air in particularly haunting fashion, and when Guthrie's voice is blended in, the song becomes even more exotic and intoxicating. "Rain Maker" is a sedate slow piece and it's where the dulcimer (a string instrument that is strummed here) is introduced. The rhythms are stately and the song is one of the more subdued tracks on Skin on Skin. Following on the heels of that song is another uptempo cut, "Drumba" on which Fitzsimmons cuts loose on all manner of drums (hand and drum kit) and percussion, unadorned by any wind instruments.

Interestingly, Skin on Skin is not a "loud" recording. Somehow, even when Fitzsimmons is lighting it up, there is a subtle "feel" to the music. It's not muted, it's just somehow softened. When I have heard other drum-based recordings, frequently they wear me out, literally. I end up suffering ear fatigue, but not with Skin on Skin. I frequently played this album all the way through with ease. However Fitzsimmons accomplished this feat, it makes the CD so much more enjoyable. You can crank the volume up and groove away or, when played at moderate volume, you can just as easily sit and bathe in the assorted rhythms and melodies, in effect taking a mental/aural vacation to far-off lands without leaving your chair. Either way you play Skin on Skin, you're in for a treat. This is percussion and drums played by one the best on the planet - bar none. Throw in his prodigious flute talents as well and you will understand why this was one of my favorite recordings of 2002. Skin on Skin merits my highest recommendation.