Orchestrion, Pat Metheny's adventurous new "solo" recording, is set for release this coming Tuesday, January 26, on Nonesuch and remains available for pre-order with the limited-edition signed print in the Nonesuch Store.

The Guardian calls it "Metheny's most ambitious experiment." Though it's Metheny alone behind all of the album's instruments, via solenoid switches he controls himself, reviewer John Fordham likens the sound to classic Pat ­Metheny Group. At the same time, the performances find "Metheny the jazz soloist at his most cool and ­lyrically swinging," creating a work at once "very melodic" and "technically mind-boggling." Read the review at guardian.co.uk.

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The New Jersey Star-Ledger says Metheny's experiment has paid off: "The chiming, undulating result feels organic and joyous," writes reviewer Bradley Bambarger. He, too, finds it reminiscent of a Pat Metheny Group album, with its "intoxicating kaleidoscope of jazz harmony, Latin-tinged polyrhythms, song-like melody." Read more at nj.com.

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There's an extensive look at the project at All About Jazz. John Kelman, the site's managing editor, explores just why Metheny would choose to create this "rich tapestry of percussion, pianos, 'guitarbots' and more" in an era of looping and laptop sampling. "The answer," says Kelman, "is ultimately revealed on the album itself."

Whatever concerns may come to mind when considering music made through "guitarbots" and the like can, in this case, surely be laid aside, for "the music of Orchestrion breathes, feeling natural, organic ... human," Kelman insists. "That the music avoids feeling mechanical—despite the existence of fixed, predetermined parts—is a great part of Orchestrion's particular magic. "

What's more, the project has allowed Metheny to experiment beyond where he has before, such that "the new places that his orchestrion allows him to go orchestrally, clearly pushes him out of his comfort zone into some new improvisational territory as well."

One more giant leap in the "fearless pursuit of new directions" that have been such an important part of Metheny's career, the orchestrion has allowed the guitarist "to write some of the most demanding music of his career" with "sophisticated voicings that represent truly new territory, even for the ever-evolving Metheny."

Ultimately, Kelman concludes, Metheny's Orchestrion "can be considered not just an unqualified and unequivocally successful experiment, but as one of the most innovative and compositionally profound albums of his career."

You'll find the complete article, along with a number of photos of Pat and the instruments of the orchestrion, at allaboutjazz.com.