LAS Magazine
Instrumental Quarter - CD Review
by Dan Williams
Do you have an instrumental quarter? I need some change. HA! Woo! I am funny. Ugh.
I've taken the liberty of creating a paragraph break after that crack, so that you can once again catch your breath and regain your composure after that fit of laughing.
Instrumental Quarter is - surprise - an instrumental band from Italy. This is the soundtrack to swaying grass. This is the soundtrack to watching birds feed at the seashore. This is the sound of springtime on the Alaskan Tundra. This is music, organic and moody.
A quartet who are proficient at their craft, Instrumental Quarter's music is inspired by the patterns and frameworks found in the natural world.
So it is natural to see this as a soundtrack to any activity away from the hustle and bustle of the world of cars, traffic, noise and pollution. The music is intensely peaceful and serene. However, just like nature, the tone and climate can change at any moment. While overall it is lush and quiet, the music can also be quite agitated and vaguely menacing as with the funky "Just a Dream". The addition of a violoncello (a bass viol of four strings, or a bass violin with long, large strings, giving sounds an octave lower than the viola, or tenor or alto violin) rounds out the sound nicely.
The complex acoustic guitar and bass lines, are dashed with a bit of melancholy in the form of this violoncello.
I would completely agree that the goal of these musicians has been achieved. They have translated the sensation of witnessing and being surrounded by nature into a musical output. The output is quite laid back, and moody. This is a disc to be wholeheartedly embraced by those who enjoy watching the trees sway and the grass grow. Those who live on their X Boxes, television, and I-Macs, might not find it so captivating.
Source LAS Magazine
