Pat Metheny's latest Nonesuch release, Orchestrion—which pairs the composer-guitarist with a phalanx of remarkable, custom-made robotic instruments, for a "solo" recording unlike any other—is out tomorrow. Metheny's hometown paper, the Kansas City Star, previews the new album, which features what it calls "the most astounding jazz band he has ever assembled."

Star writer Steve Paul reports from the rehearsal space where Pat was preparing for his upcoming European tour, which begins Saturday in northern France. And so, with Orchestrion, says Paul, "one of the most creative performers and composers of his time, has now blazed another trail." As the writer makes plain, "there’s never been anything quite like this, and Metheny has never done anything as complicated and as outrageously fun."

For a detailed account of the inspiration behind the Orchestrion and how it all works, visit kansascity.com.

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All Music says that for all the complicated mechanical workings behind the instruments Pat has assembled for Orchestrion, "everything here sounds and feels organic." The album tracks, says reviewer Thom Jurek in his four-star review, "showcase different sides of Metheny’s compositional acumen and poetic sense of detail without losing his euphoric, spacious sense of complex harmonic engagement or songlike melodic sensibilities."

Jurek goes on to call the songs "compositionally lively and ambitious, even given Metheny’s exacting standards," with comparisons to Steve Reich and Frank Zappa heard along the way. Taken together, the new album "is no less brilliant" than some of Metheny's finest recordings. In fact, Jurek concludes, with Orchestrion, "Metheny exceeds our expectations, and perhaps even his own."

Read the complete review at allmusic.com.

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The Lexington Herald-Leader, too, says that even with the magic of the instruments behind Orchestrion, what listeners get is what they would hope for in a new Pat Metheny Group album, and all from the composer himself. "You still hear the rich Jim Hall-style guitar lyricism, sweeping piano-and-keyboard melodies and lightly layered percussion designs with a soft spot for marimba, enthuses contributor Walter Tunis. "And it's all played by Pat."

Tunis goes on to call Orchestrion "a lovely listen and a grand reminder of Metheny's gift for compositional melody and efficient orchestration."

Read the review at kentucky.com.

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Glide magazine gives the album four out of five stars, with reviewer Nicholas Gunther likening Pat to a force of nature, explaining, "sometimes nature produces extraordinary events." Read why at glidemagazine.com.