Might as well cut to the chase: if you're a Jazz guitar fan, you need to hear this album. Demir plays with the speed and Eastern influence of John McLaughlin without a lick of imitation. Nor is he inclined to run through scale exercises and call it improvisation, as so many fusion pickers have done. God knows how someone can think so creatively at this pace, but he can - hell, I get a nosebleed just trying to keep up with him as a mere listener. He's a great writer too, mixing Jazz and Eastern elements throughout. If one of the big labels doesn't snag this guy, they're crazy.
by Dave McElfresh

Born in Turkey, this Canadian guitarist leads his capable trio through a set of 14 originals. Possessing phenomenal single-note technique, Demir plays with a decidedly Middle Eastern perspective that at times seems to originate more from the oud than the guitar. Nevertheless, his highly idiosyncratic white-knuckle improvisations, which occasionally recall the great Django Reinhardt at his most frantic, are apt to leave you breathless.
by Jim Ferguson

Someone could mistake this recording for a previously unreleased McLaughlin set dating back to his Devotion days: this sort of insanely fast power playing imbued with Eastern overtones has always been Johnny M's calling card. Or, tone-wise, Demir could be mistaken for Gabor Szabo on amphetamines. "In Favour" is a painfully restrained ballad, the tension in his notes suggesting that Demir is so filled with strength and ideas that a slow tempo cut becomes downright agonizing. It's the rare player who can turn a sow cut into an exercise in tension. (Check out the subtle references to Django, another player who presented all of his music, slow or fast, in capital letters.) Demir and his guitar are a tornado. God help any young guitar punk who thinks he's on his way and happens to hear "Satellite Service" - chances are his visions of encroaching competency will be replaced by a trip to the guitar pawn shop.
by Dave McElfresh

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