Cellist/composer Justin Wright has long existed in two worlds, collaborating with some of the more experimental indie rock acts of his Montreal locale while also being highly active within modern classical circles. While his 2019 debut Music for Staying Warm was a collection of ambient drones played by acoustic string ensembles, second album A Really Good Spot branches out significantly, reflecting the versatility of Wright's musical identity by merging his arrangements for cello and other strings with modular synthesizer ...
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Cellist/composer Justin Wright has long existed in two worlds, collaborating with some of the more experimental indie rock acts of his Montreal locale while also being highly active within modern classical circles. While his 2019 debut Music for Staying Warm was a collection of ambient drones played by acoustic string ensembles, second album A Really Good Spot branches out significantly, reflecting the versatility of Wright's musical identity by merging his arrangements for cello and other strings with modular synthesizer patches, field recordings, abstract electronics, and other unconventional sounds rarely found on traditionalist classical albums. One of the most striking methods A Really Good Spot uses to craft its peculiar sound is the inclusion of low-fidelity recording captured alongside more polished audio. This appears almost immediately in the opening title track's blur of hissy tape loops and pristinely recorded cello; throughout the album, stray audio of distant laughter, partial conversations, and other field-recorded sounds also fade in and out of the mix. There are moments of thoughtful droning like the gentle and understated "The Pines Memorial Sample Pack," but Wright also explores chunky, foreboding distorted synth rumbles, passages of spoken word, and collective improvisations. The glimmering "Hellbrunn Automatons" is one of the brightest moments on the album, with a highway of modular synth arpeggios twittering around bittersweet acoustic piano chords, all with an urgency that recalls Glassworks-era Philip Glass. Cello still leads many of the songs, with "Codex" beginning as a passionate string trio arrangement before uneasy electronics creep into the song's second half. Violinist/vocalist Thanya Iyer contributes improvised lyrics and other vocal sounds to the playful "We're Still Here," a quick and flickering piece that evokes the wide-eyed style of Arthur Russell as much as it does Björk's most summery material. A Really Good Spot changes gears frequently, but it never feels like a hodgepodge. Wright's unexpected combinations and openness to less-than-perfect performances and production result in an album of exciting shifts and many moments of unpredictable beauty. Both the melancholy and joy that were present in earlier work are brought into new dimensions here, with results that are sometimes jarring, sometimes moving, and always arresting. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi
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Add this copy of A Really Good Spot to cart. $66.78, new condition, Sold by Entertainment by Post - UK rated 2.0 out of 5 stars, ships from BRISTOL, SOUTH GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2022 by Beacon Sound.
