Wintres Woma, the first solo album from the Chicago-based English guitarist James Elkington, opens with a display of raw technique that's enough to leave you dizzy. If there was an acoustic-folk-guitar version of Guitar Hero, Wintres Woma opener "Make It Up" would be the last song you beat on the game's final level, its version of DragonForce's "Through The Fire And Flames." It's a thick and deep and elaborate acoustic groove, and it sounds vaguely like five guitarists playing at once, but it's not. It's all Elkington. Later on, an electric guitar comes murmuring over that acoustic groove, but that's Elkington, too; he played and arranged nearly all the instruments on the album. The sheer force of Elkington's virtuosity is an attraction unto itself, but the amazing thing about it isn't the playing. It's the way Elkington uses that gift as a means rather than an end. "Make It Up" is a hangdog lament pushed along by gentle, pulsing percussion. Elkington isn't just showing off; he's creating a mood, and he's doing what he's doing within the context of a simple, lovely song. A song with vocals, even.