Gibt es eine typische Steve Wynn Platte? Sicher nicht. Dieses dürfte allerdings eine eher untypische Platte sein, geprägt vom slowenischen Soundlabor des Produzenten Chris Eckman. Irgendwo zwischen Midnight Choir’s Amsterdam Stranded und der letzten Terry Lee Halle Aufnahme liegt dieses Werk, das den Wynn-Kenner zum Umdenken zwingt. Ein Songzyklus über das die grundsätzlichen Fragen des Lebens ist es geworden, der Stück für Stück von Chris und Steve zusammengesetzt wurde. Die Tunes wurden erst Solo eingespielt, dann fügten beide nach und nach Instrumente hinzu, Chris sorgte für die atmosphärischen Soundlandschaften, engagierte das Apollon Chamber Orchestra aus Prag und die Carnice Vocal Group. Die letzten Beiträge kamen von Chris Cacavaes, Nick Luca, Tim Adams und Kirk Swan. Sound-Alchemist Tucker Martine mixte das Werk schließlich in seinem Studio in Seattle.
Crossing Dragon Bridge ist ein Schritt nach rechts und einer voran, ein bezwingender Mix aus behutsamen Alternativ-Pop, opulenten Arrangements, Singer/Songwriter-Songs mit vorsichtig eingeflochtener, analog klingender Elektronika, viel Atmosphäre und natürlich richtig guten Songs. Ganz sicher wird Steve Wynn wieder eine richtig-satte Dream Syndicate-Gedächtnisplatte machen, aber es ist faszinierend, auch die andere Seite seiner Kunst zu erleben. Das Werk kommt zudem im aufwändigen Digipak.
(rh, Glitterhouse)
"Lässiger Folkrock, psychedelisch schillernd und mit reichlich Pop-Appeal, vom begnadeten Songschreiber aus Kalifornien." (Musikexpress. 4 1/2 Sterne)
According to his liner notes, when Steve Wynn went to Ljubljana, Slovenia to make a record with producer Chris Eckman (songwriter, guitarist, and founder of the Walkabouts who also does work for Slovenian television) at the latter's studio, he never expected to be told he had to do everything himself. Wynn had some songs for this collaboration, but others were written on the spot and he played virtually everything on the set, from guitar, bass, and keyboards to vocals and backing vocals. Apparently Eckman played a bit but was very hesitant to do so. In three weeks, after spending plenty of time observing life there in Ljubljana, forgetting his life in New York for a bit, and generally being a stranger in a strange land, he came up with a collection of 13 songs that talked about everything he felt there to be sure, but more than this, he'd come up with an astonishing collection of very diverse tunes that were different than anything he'd ever written or recorded before. After Wynn finished his sessions, Eckman added a local women's choir, a chamber orchestra from Prague. Later he added overdubbed sessions by Chris Cacavas, Linda Pitmon, Kirk Swan, and the Teenage Prayers' Tim Adams, in the United States and Germany. Tucker Martine mixed the entire album in Seattle. The end result is Crossing Dragon Bridge, an album that mixes lushly orchestrated outsider pop (the title track and the nearly Brechtian "Wait Until You Get to Know Me"); mutant Americana ("She Came," and "Annie and Me"); beautifully textured garagey psychedelia ("Love Me Anyway" and "God Doesn't Like It"); darkly colored Baroque rock ("Bring the Magic" and "I Don't Need This"), and hauntingly beautiful singer/songwriter fare ("Punching Holes in the Sky"). In other words, this is a dazzling array of material, but all of it is perfectly suited to Wynn as both a songwriter and as a singer. Lyrically it's the most sophisticated thing he's ever recorded, head and shoulders above the standard fare from his peers and by many new kids on the block as well (no pun intended). He's set himself a new high-water mark to be sure. Ultimately, it's a songwriter's album but one that is full of surprise, delight, and a sense of poetry that is wiry, tough, and tender. By turns epic and intimate, literate, witty and poetic, this is Wynn's masterpiece
(by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide)
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