Bleep

The subject matter of Chuck Johnson’s latest record is a heavy one; the music found within is suspenseful yet shimmering. Burden Of Proof follows the disappearance of Jennifer Pandos and the almost forty year search for answers that follows, directed by Cynthia Hill for HBO and soundtracked by Johnson’s curious mixture of mournful, hopeful, and adventurous arrangements. Electrified organ arpeggios jitter across the main theme, making way for sorrowful strings speaking of trepidation and revelations. Synths explore motion and dissonance, reverberant strings release tension, and rhodes chords and twangy, forlorn pedal steel echo into the night’s stillness.