For those unaware, Book of Stories, the first CD of Jason Kao Hwang/Critical Response, will be released on July 5th, 2023. Critical Response features Jason Kao Hwang - composer/electric violin, Anders Nilsson - electric guitar, and Michael T.A. Thompson - drums.

In Book of Stories, arising from composition, improvisation, synergy, and truth seeking, Critical Response challenges the disillusionment and divisiveness that encircle this moment in history.

Michael T.A. Thompson and Jason Kao Hwang performed many times with choreographer/dancer Patricia Nicholson. Both Michael and the late J.A. Deane, encouraged him to explore multiple FX processing. Furthermore, he has been listening to Anders Nilsson for years and knew that this trio would bond, and so they have.

1. The Power of Many in the Soul of One (13.53)
2. Upside Circle Down (13:06)
3. a silent ghost follows (7:38)
4. Dragon Carved into Bone (12:12)
5. Friends Forever (5:49)

Beginning in 2018, then interrupted by the pandemic, at long last, Hwang is thankful to be sharing this CD with the world, and thus they open with the dutifully scintillating The Power of Many in the Soul of One and then next bring us the rhythmically scattered, almost primal in sound Upside Circle Down.

This captivating and wholly authentic album continues onward with the playful at times, cautious at others, and yet entertainingly gripping throughout a silent ghost, before we are brought forth my own personal favorite, the stuttered, clinically-sculpted Dragon Carved into Bone, the recording coming to a close on the flagging, yet quietly spirited Friends Forever.

In Jason Kao Hwang’s Critical Response, sounds of origin radically evolve to affirm compassion within neo-technological consciousness. With the multiple FX processing of both electric violin and guitar, this trio has the orchestral power to address the challenges we face at this moment in history.

Official Purchase Link