The art of painter Francisco Goya – the Iberian master who dared to offer up ironic portraits of the Spanish royal family as well as creating disturbing masterpieces such as The Disasters of War series and the so-called Black Paintings – serves as the inspiration for Berlin-based guitarist Arne Jansen on this, his third album as leader and his debut for Siggi Loch’s ACT label. For the most part, contrary to what the title suggests, the versatile Jansen sounds sweetly reasonable here, exploring mood and texture in a manner reminiscent of the likes of Kurt Rosenwinkel and Pat Metheny. The set-up is largely that of a fairly stripped-back guitar quartet, with Jansen moving between electric and acoustic guitars and Friedrich Paravicini stretching the palette by variously playing Hammond organ, the ondes martenot and vibes, among other instruments. Stephan Braun guests on cello on a couple of tracks, while Nils Wülker’s flugelhorn adds extra colour on the gently evanescent ‘San Antonio’. Buoyed by some energetic drumming from [em] sticksman Eric Schaefer, Jansen occasionally sets sail for Joe Satriani territory: ‘Pilgrimage’ is pure blustering virtuoso rawk. In addition to nine originals, there are two covers which further suggest Jansen’s rock leanings: a nicely understated version of U2’s ‘Love Is Blindness’ and a fairly faithful take on Dire Straits’ ‘Brothers in Arms’, which provides the slightly underwhelming conclusion to an otherwise interesting album.