Marc Ribot, The Lost String

It is with bated breath that a sizable portion of the music world anticipates guitarist Marc Ribot's creative endeavors. After all, few artists are as adventurous, imaginative and uncompromising, and even fewer could hope to find a home, as Ribot has, in such diverse realms as jazz, pop, rock, blues and klezmer. And so fans can now satisfy their curiosities with the release of Anaïs Prosaïc's documentary, Marc Ribot: La Corde Perdue (The Lost String).

The film, much like Ribot's career, hops from place to place with spirit and ambition, along with a sense of faith and conviction that what feels right artistically is all that really matters.

Drawing from performances, interviews, archival footage and scenes of Ribot traveling through his favorite local haunts, Prosaïc paints the portrait of an artist in constant motion. From his early days in such infamous bands as The Lounge Lizards and Shrek to his more recent work with John Zorn and as a solo act, the video enables the viewer to see that Ribot has struck a rare suspended chord between diversity and restraint.

But if there's one area where The Lost String comes up short, it's in an overly limited focus on the thread linking the guitarist's perpetual, apparent deviations. At times, one wishes for a little more air, a little more music, especially when the film weaves its way through ideas, more ideas, words and proclamations about affiliations.

By the end, however, the portrait is mostly complete. Complete and, as with all things Ribot touches, completely intriguing. And if, by the end, more music is needed, fret not, for a bonus disc is included, with four full tracks from a solo performance in Lampli, France.

Production Notes: 52 minutes. Extras: Five Solo Pieces: A Live Recording from Banlieues Bleues Festival.

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