Dream Collider
Sapphire, 2022
8/10
The Grammy Nominated violist and composer Nick Revel returns with a sophomore album, where he fuses many genres and takes on the roles of producer and engineer for the self-composed and highly creative 13 tracks.
“Launch Pad” opens the listen with Revel’s swift string acrobatics amid the playful percussive sounds and spacey electronica, and “Contact” follows with robotic talking alongside the sci-fi and pop nods that even get dance floor friendly.
Deeper into the affair, “GodSpeed” blips and beeps with a bit of mystery as a gentle beat enters, while ”USE HEADPHONES” places Ben Russell’s violin, Brandon Ridenour’s trumpet, Hamilton Berry’s cello, Yoonah Kim’s clarinet, Greg Chudzik’s double bass and Nora Krohn’s vocals into the highly animated album highlight.
Closer to the end, “666” showcases Revel’s intimate viola prowess that welcomes a dreamy ambience, and “Father And Daughter” exits the listen with sublime string manipulation and calm gestures of meticulous song craft.
Revel is a founding violist of PUBLIQuartet, who have seen Grammy Nominations and charted quite high, and he brings his experience and skill to a extremely technical and innovative body of work here.
Travels well with: David Leisner- Letter To The World; Orion Weiss- Arc II: Ravel, Brahms, Shostakovich