An Emerald City, An Emerald City (Monkey Records)

 |   |  <1 min read

An Emerald City: A Thousand Stars At Night
An Emerald City, An Emerald City (Monkey Records)

This extraordinary four-track EP by an Auckland band which is long on instrumental elegance and very short on pretention is a diamond, and like a precious gem you can turn it many ways and appreciate different refractions.

These swooning, grand and widescreen instrumentals have something in common with the great US band Explosions in the Sky but they also have a more exotic element through the presence of violin, cello and what sound like discreetly placed sitar and Chinese lute.

The pieces sway into each other, have a definite hypnotic and ambient quality, but also thoroughly engage the attention.

Astral, epic, allusive, soundtracks for imaginary movies . . .

Say what you will, but don't ignore it.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Drive-By Truckers: The Big To-Do (Pias)

Drive-By Truckers: The Big To-Do (Pias)

The Truckers inspire great loyalty, but fans may be tested by this outing which was knocked off quickly and suffers for it. Certainly it rocks like Pearl Jam with Neil Young or Tom... > Read more

Lila Downs, Shake Away (EMI)

Lila Downs, Shake Away (EMI)

The new album by the US-Hispanic singer should get a good reception here given her popularity at the last Womad (see tag for interview) -- but this one sees her embracing a more centrist rock... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

THE BARGAIN BUY: Lou Reed, The Solo Years

THE BARGAIN BUY: Lou Reed, The Solo Years

How strange to live in a world without Lou Reed. Not that we chatted often -- indeed never -- but it was always good to know that Lou was out there somewhere being irritable about something. In... > Read more

IAIN MACMILLAN PHOTOGRAPHER, CREATING AN ICONIC ALBUM COVER (2019): Four for the road

IAIN MACMILLAN PHOTOGRAPHER, CREATING AN ICONIC ALBUM COVER (2019): Four for the road

As most Beatle fans know, the group debated for weeks over what their final studio album should be called. Among the titles thrown around were All Good Children Go To Heaven and Four in The Bar.... > Read more