I missed a threnody show ages ago. I think they were even playing with 3 Mile Pilot! Bad Ted! Anyways, there's touches of Erik's A Minor Forest in some songs, but this is really a new venture. I love the album and it mixes great with some Mogwai, Godspeed ye black emperor, and the Rachels
This group reminds me a lot of [url=http://www.emusic.com/artist/11572/11572778.html]Town & Country[/url], with (only slightly) more rigidly structured pieces and a more overt "chamber ensemble" feel. It's mostly peaceful, but not background music at all. I really like it.
"Timbre Hollow" is the debut album by Threnody Ensemble -- a new chamber group founded by guitarists Erik Hoversten (formerly of A Minor Forest), Dave Cerf and Dominique Davison. Incorporating into their compositions elements of improvisation, what is most striking about these pieces is Threnody Ensemble's use of non-Western instrumentation and techniques (hocketing, droning, etc.) in combination with more typical chamber instruments: Indian, Indonesian, and Cuban elements are all apparent but not overt. The effect is to complicate ideas of musical identity and authenticity, to discomfit lazy 'classical vs. folk' distinctions. But above all, the use of steel-stringed acoustic guitars and cello, with a variety of instrumental guests, creates a shimmering soundfield that is at once beyond instrumentalist ego and at home on the concert stage.
