Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Acoustic Tales — The Archaic Revival
(Psycho-Audible PA-0002, 1999, CD)

by Jon Davis, Published 2001-03-01

The Archaic Revival Cover art

Here is another project from the Psycho-Audible camp. After the electric energy-fest of Zapotec, guitarist Bill Curtis and violinist Anna Hubbell toned things down a bit (in volume at least) to become this “acoustic” duo. I put the word in quotes because, while the overall impression of Acoustic Tales is in fact acoustic, there is a lot of it that was not actually produced by strictly acoustic instruments, from the electric violin to guitar synthesizer to upright electric bass. The pair are augmented by Jon Nazdin on the aforementioned bass, Jeremy Cubert on piano, and Victor Williams playing a variety of percussion. The general style is along the line of world-fusion acoustic bands like Oregon, Shakti, or Do’a. Almost every cut features some quick unison licks, preserving the Return to Forever and Mahavishnu impressions of Zapotec. According to the liner notes, the original guitar and violin tracks were recorded live, so I suppose all the other parts must have been added after the fact. It all holds together and flows remarkably well for that, and I would never have guessed the musicians didn’t all play together. The eyes of New Age fans should be caught by the cover photos of Inca ruins (looks like Machu Picchu to me), but this is no soporific bliss-fest, just great music full of passion and technique. I can only hope there will be more from Acoustic Tales to come in the future, and given the popularity of both world music and New Age acoustic music, there should be a market to support their efforts.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 21, 1999 releases

Related artist(s): Jeremy Cubert, Acoustic Tales, The Archaic Revival

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.