Eros

by Jonathan Widran Listening to Chris Spheeris' gently rhythmic but ultimately sleepy flamenco guitar based Eros, you might think you've stumbled upon outtakes from Jesse Cook or today's current master of easygoing pop flamenco, Ottmar Liebert. But those two usually have the keen sense to vary the tempo just enough to avoid each tune from bleeding into the next they'd never create a whole album of lullabies. A noted new age multi-instrumentalist who plays everything here himself, Spheeris' intention seems to be not to excite much passion, just to go with the flow and create some charming, acoustic guitar based bedroom music. An insert photo of him playing a secondary instrument, accordian, as a couple chats at an outdoor café bears this out. Taken individually, tunes like "The Arrow" and "Mediterraneo" are graceful and gorgeously textured, with subtle piano harmonies and light percussion accents behind crisply played melodies. And he uses the real accordian quite effectively on the trance-inducing "Juliette." It's just that overall, it comes across much like the atmosphere at a French café - lovely enough to put you in the mood, but ultimately too easy to forget when morning comes.