Robert Wright
AVA Music founder Robert Wright is perhaps best known as a producer but he is also an accomplished musician. His first full-length CD, Lessons of the Past, blends extensive sampling with elegant instrumentation to reveal a prophetic view of life at the fin-de-siecle - a landscape coloured by failed politics, troubled relationships and a burning desire for self-discovery. 

According to critic Mike Beggs (Words & Music, Mississauga News), "Lessons of the Past has the layered atmospherics associated with studio masters like Robbie Robertson, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. It is an understated, mysterious mix of textured guitar and keyboards, intoning vocals, samples and slightly cryptic lyrics. Wright nails many moods - the stark piano ambience of "Tribal Waters" and "11th Ave. Pier," the spacey guitar of "Hey Simon," the drum machine momentum of "Berlin" - but finds a prevailing theme in disillusionment, personal and political."

Critic Sean Collins calls the album "a cold yet beautifully dismal trip. Wright's calm and liquid tunes are perfect for a quiet and subtle mood. The ease of these songs does not, however, disguise an overall power. Wright sings with the sort of gravelly and throaty voice of Robbie Robertson or Leonard Cohen. It's this vocal style that really creates the mood of the whole album, a rich and sombre mood that makes the music as good as it is." 
Recordings
Lessons of the Past

Lessons...
CD $15.00 ON SALE AGAIN SEPTEMEBER 8, 2003

1. Hey Simon (Fire in Your Eyes)
2. Tribal Waters
3. Starry Night (Frankie's Blues)
4. Coins
5. 11th Ave. Pier
6. Berlin
7. Consolation
8. Nocturne
9. We Never Say Goodbye