Review Summary: "If you like instrumental music featuring violin, vibraphone, guitar, bass and some crazy drumming you will enjoy this record!"
Made of Water is the new musical project from composer and multi-instrumentalist
Matt Stober. Hydrosphere is the result of his collaboration with
Gregg Bendian (percussionist, composer), and
Meghan Todt (violinist, educator).
Stober had already demonstrated his love for ethereal music with the post-rock project
In-Dreamview. The songs had character but it was rarely as impressionistic as what is found here.
Hydrosphere is dedicated to water and the music is fairly successful at matching the theme of its title.
The opening song
"Abyssal" (containing the most gorgeous melody), matches the mysterious character of the uncharted seafloor. The uncanny trek through a land enshrouded in mist is suggested
"In Mists", as well as the slow flow of water in dark passages under the earth -
"Aquifer".
"Ice Shelf" is perhaps the most varied song on the album. Metallic noises and otherworldly jazz guitar ( With reverb invoking
Vini Reilly and
Allan Holdsworth ) initiate the song, until it transitions into a disorienting conversation between percussion and guitar. The violin makes a brief return in the final minutes, before it is disrupted by a burst of
Messiaen-like rhythms. It ends with chimes and ambient noises.
Hydrosphere should appeal to anyone who is a fan of Jazz, chamber music or post-rock.
