Bryce Dessner / So Percussion

Music For Wood & Strings

Image of Bryce Dessner / So Percussion - Music For Wood & Strings
Record Label
Brassland

About this item

"Music For Wood And Strings" might be the official follow-up to Bryce Dessner’s 2013 solo debut "Ahyem" but this ‘solo’ record is really the meeting of three great musical entities: Dessner (a member of The National) wrote the piece, renowned quartet So Percussion perform it and Aron Sanchez (of Buke And Gase) built the custom Chordstick instruments upon which it’s played. The music is pointillist then hazy, distorted then crisp and always hypnotic, melodic and engrossing. Weighing in at 35 minutes in length, "Music For Wood And Strings" is the most ambitious piece of music Dessner has released to date. The CD has a run time of 70 minutes, presenting the composition both as a full length concert piece and in nine playlist-friendly ‘sections’. Dessner et al lure the listener in with an assortment of gentle drones before the piece erupts into a mesmeric gossamer of chiming notes and cascading chords. Blossoming from the fertile space between the minimalism of Reich and Glass and the playful and emotive neo-classical of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Haushka and Owen Pallett, "Music For Wood & Strings" is an unconventional triumph.

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