With Malice Toward None
Azica, 2021
9/10
Listen to With Malice Toward None
The Apollo Chamber Players, i.e. Matthew J. Detrick, Anabel Ramirez Detrick, Whitney Bullock and Matthew Dudzik, return with their 5th studio album, and it features globally inspired songs by J. Kimo Williams, Pamela Z, Christopher Theofanidis and Mark Wingate, Komitas and Eve Beglarian.
The title track starts the listen with Tracy Silverman’s electric violin soaring alongside the unplugged strings, where Wilson manipulates the instrument in a way that makes it resemble a guitar, and “The Unraveling” follows with Pamela Z’s voice and electronics adding much character to the charming strings and playful atmosphere that makes great use of looping, layering and Z’s very creative mind.
“What Is The Word?” occupies the middle spot, and brings poetry to the 6 movements of very skilled string work that can quiver with mysteriousness, glow in a dreamy sort of way, and also emits bright moments of beauty, while “Themes Of Armenian Folksongs” moves at a quicker pace and hosts Joan DerHovsepian on guest viola as 10 Armenian folk songs are arranged for strings in melancholic, soulful and sublime gestures.
“We Will Sing One Song” exits the listen, and spends 17+ minutes mesmerizing us with Arsen Petrosyan’s duduk, Pejman Hadadi’s percussion, DerHovsepian’s viola and Eve Beglarian’s digital work on the ambient and artistic landscape that uses space and intimacy with incredible precision.
These Houston, Texas artists have already seen global praise for their previous albums, and with each composer bringing their own personal interpretations of folk music to this effort, the Apollo Chamber Players are certainly going to see more much deserved admiration for With Malice Toward None.
Travels well with: John-Henry Crawford- Dialogo; Verona Quartet- Diffusion