Thalia

This is an exciting and auspicous debut release by a chamber rock quartet from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Far Corner play carefully honed compositions, composed in a style that reflects influences from 20th century composers, such as Stravinsky and Bartok conbined with classical/chamber rock greats like Univers Zero , early ELP, Present and more, combined in their own fashion. In addition to their compositions, Far Corner also perform purely improvised music. Their music maintains the energy level and power of rock, but in an extremely sophisticated way. Their music is mysterious, sometimes dark, and always intriguing. Far Corner uses a relatively small palette of instrumental colors to achieve a big sound: Grand piano and Hammond organ, cello (played both ‘classically’ and with amplification and fuzzboxes to give it a metal edge ala Alamaailman Vasarat), electric bass (by the very excellent Bill Kopecky) and drums. Their fusion of classical and rock instrumentation is untraditional; occasionally it even inverts the instruments’ roles, using rock instruments in a classical context and manner and treating classical instruments as though they were rock. Most notably, each instrument in the quartet is treated as an equal, and all instruments are assigned melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic roles. The four musicians are all extremely accomplished players, and this is sure to get the attention it deserves from fans of chamber/progressive rock.