March 9th, 2006
The Dublin Guitar Quartet - Deleted Pieces
The Dublin Guitar Quartet
Deleted Pieces ****
Despite the unassuming name, nothing about The Dublin Guitar Quartet is conventional. Favouring six, nine and eleven string acoustic guitars, this collection is not just about riffing and picking. Every piece rises and falls over segments that shift from ferociously dense to quietly scant without warning. Most of compositions are by modern composers, but the foursome provide their on take on each with skill, injecting interpretative flourishes that manage to offset the intensity of the work. From the urgent stomp of Henryk Gorecki’s ‘Quasi una Fantasia’ to Kevin Volans’ five-part ‘White Man Sleeps’, this is a constantly evolving selection, deftly delivered. The group’s own Brian Bolger offers his own dark, transcendental work, ‘Weak’ and if the tracklist reveals influences like Leo Brouwer and Gorecki, the structural frameworks of Philip Glass and Steve Reich hover around the whole album. The closer-to-home inclusion of ‘Soundscapes over Landscapes’ by The Redneck Manifesto is no surprise given the post-rock tinge to what DGQ do. Melded together, their reportoire hints at Spanish scores, Japanese percussion and Greek folk stirrings that could be the perfect soundtrack to a Peter Greenaway film. Sharp, skillful and occasionally dazzling debut.
Info: DGQ’a Myspace page
March 9th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Hi Sinead,
you’ve made some flattering comparisons there, if they are as good as you say i will have to check them out. any word of a gig soon?
have you seen them Live? Is this their first album?
We are serioulsy lacking some decent home grown alternative talent to push the creative boat out a bit. Hopefully these guys will start a trend
March 9th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
I’m not sure when their next gig is, but they played last Saturday in the Sugar Club. They opted for electric guitars and bass instead of acoustic and it was amazing.
They played most of the pieces off the album and included, unsurprisingly, some Steve Reich and Philip Glass (a gorgeous piece from the film Koyaanisqatsi)
I love the album, but it it’s acoustic, classical guitar with some modern twists, so as you can imagine, it may be an acquired taste for some.
This is their first release and it’s on Greyslate Records.
March 9th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Padraig, it you’d like to get a flavour of the DGQ, they were the musical guest on The View last week. Just go here and scroll down to the link at the end of the page.
March 9th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
We are serioulsy lacking some decent home grown alternative talent to push the creative boat out a bit. Hopefully these guys will start a trend
Well go and blog Butterfly Explosion already you spanner McCaffrey
April 18th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Oh that boat is long gone..long gone! Website under construction but meanwhile:
http://www.myspace.com/dublinguitarquartet