The Hero Levels
Imaginary Animals, 2025
10/10
The Grammy Nominated violist and composer Nick Revel pairs this record of strings with a fantasy book, where each song soundtracks a segment of a book via the engaging and often mysterious textures.
The musical portion opens with “The Hero From Amberglade”, where bright strings and playful percussive sounds surround the warmth, and it isn’t long until “Training Ground” is shrouded in atmosphere that’s a bit darker in scope and emits electronic buzzing.
Deeper along, “Coliseum” moves with animated viola and a lively spirit that’s exciting and beat friendly, while “Ancient Stroll” uses both noisy, dissonant ideas and harmonic gestures to its advantage. “Final Battle” exits, and it’s got a lively mood that’s meticulous and glorious in its rich and triumphant delivery.
The literary aspect is just as well done as the music. The QR code in the book gives you access to the music, as Revel’s prose flows with vivid detail in the fantasy realm that draws us in immediately to the storyline. Even for someone like myself who doesn’t gravitate to this genre of writing, the syntax and wordplay keeps your eyes on the pages and the artwork is abundant and visually exciting, too.
Revel is a founding member of PUBLIQuartet, and he handles viola, violin, mandolin and electronics. Stephen Sas plays bass. Together, they flesh out an atypical classical meets sci-fi/videogame-esque adventure that is fusion at its finest.
Travels well with: Will Liverman- The Dunbar/Moore Sessions; Kronos Quartet & Mary Kouyoumdjian- Witness