Paradoxically both dense and sparse, lute\/drums duo Xylouris White\u2019s intense, elemental music defies easy categorisation and their third album is no exception.<\/p>\n
Opening track In Medias Res is a kind of tuning up\/ settling in, with rhythms tentatively developing amid the droning of a violin and the strummed\/plucked lute. The album begins in earnest with the insistent Only Love, a Greek-inspired bouncing rhythm propelling George Xylouris\u2019 nimble-fingered lute and impassioned vocal.<\/p>\n
Throughout the rest of the album, the two strands; spacious, fragile, pastoral jams and hypnotic rhythm\/drone-heavy tracks recur. The most powerful songs are Spud\u2019s Garden and Lullaby, which bring the two together. The forceful percussion and virtuoso lute playing are present, but so is the bracing sense of space, the vital bareness that makes their music feel so elemental.<\/p>\n
As with 2016\u2019s Black Peak<\/i>, Mother <\/i>is aided by a superb production by Guy Picciotto which perfectly captures the exhilarating freshness of the band\u2019s work. While its beauty may be a bit abstract for some, Mother <\/i>is intense without being dark or oppressive; timeless, a windswept, life-affirming work that makes more conventional music seem stale and staid by comparison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paradoxically both dense and sparse, lute\/drums duo Xylouris White\u2019s intense, elemental music defies easy categorisation and their third album is no exception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8023,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[],"issue":[10093],"class_list":["post-193470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album","category-reviews","issue-january-2018"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n