David Strother - El Tecolote Sings Songs to the Night [Review]

About David Strother

A restless musical soul, David Strother is a California-based electric violin player. Endless regurgitating of the famous composers has never really been his thing, and with his love of improvisation he's always leant to neoclassical realms, whilst veering off to have some eclectic fun helping out far-flung ambient, and more local prog-fusion and psychedelic outfits. Whilst not pushing the boundaries of what a violin player should be, he's also developed a nice line in soundtrack work, no doubt helped by his proximity to America's film industry.

Review

Twenty-twenty had all sorts of artistic consequences. Online collaborations, already a thing, became fully normalised; some career-minded people came out of the artistic closet; some creative souls spiralled into isolation-induced madness and others got busy. Strother was one of the latter, and in his own words, 'with a crazy existence trapping us all against the proverbial ropes I figured the best response was to throw sonic haymakers in return.' So out came the looping and effects pedals, machine friends were made to replace the real ones, and his sound started to mutate faster than the virus plaguing the world.

'El Tecolote' was the result, and whilst I usually tend to the new, I stumbled across it recently and figured it was an interesting snapshot of a time most would rather forget but which had profound cultural significance, as well as being a great, forward-thinking slice of plugged-in, turned-on and wigged-out violin playing. '2019' (un)eases the EP into existence, and you immediately know all is not well as the violin lets out a squeal, and notes echo off into the distance as the enormity of what is about to happen becomes apparent. The bowing builds in intensity, but constantly tapers off to ponder the rapidly reproducing red dots on the televised maps, with the electronically effected string samples augmenting the tension.

'The Blues Aquatic' opens with a distant, throbbing refrain that threads and rumbles its way somewhat menacingly through the track, Strother, safely anchored by the rhythmic construct, then tries to make sense of it all with some possessed playing that veers more to jazz than the classical giants, and oozes senselessness, sorrow and a plea for succour. 'Smoke from a Distant Hillside' sets a brooding ambient atmosphere from the off, with Strother happy for a mid-EP breather, and content to sit back a bit and float his violin somewhat eerily over the electronic backdrop. 'Revisiting a Dark Song' sees him at his most classical, albeit with a quivering, slightly unsettling ambient counterpoint hovering in the background, which paves the way nicely for his closing statement, 'Other Desert Cities'. It's another slice of ambient escapism that sees him in reflective if sombre mood, as with the horrors still fresh in his mind, he cautiously casts his instrument and mind across his sun-baked surrounds, and imagines a gradual return to normality and the good old, bad old days.

If Strother is hitting the spot, then check out what Piksel is doing on the other side of the Atlantic.

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Playlist Companion

Find Strother in the Slow Neoclassical Playlist.