The past few months have seen the dispersal of a clutch of sideprojects by the four members of Volcano The Bear, including Songs ofNorway (Aaron Moore and Nick Mott), Earth Trumpet (Laurence Coleman),Guignol (Moore, Coleman and Jeremy Barnes of Bablicon) and El Monte(Mott solo). However, none of these projects have been as immediatelyenjoyable and as consistently rewarding as Daniel Padden's work as TheOne Ensemble. The Owl Of Fivesis Padden's second full-length album, a collection of composed piecesrun the gamut stylistically, but maintain an integrity that makes allof it unmistakably the work of the same talented musician. Paddenfreely borrows Oriental melodies, Fahey-style revenant blues, Indianclassical, plaintive piano ballads and outsider folk traditions tocreate a platter of tuneful exploration that captured and held myattention for its entire length. The One Ensemble's arrangements arecleverly sparse, using as little as possible to convey the fragilemelodies that populate the album. This compositional economy is the keyelement that allows The Owl Of Fives to achieve its stylisticshifts without seeming calculated or overwrought. In fact, as the albumprogresses from start to finish, the compounding of disparate musicstrategies gets better with each track, rather than becoming tiresome.The loose exotica of "Farewell, My Porcupine" welds Kyoto folk toArthur Lyman piano jazz, replete with multitracked non-verbal chanting.Elsewhere, stately medieval melodies are created in the coversationsbetween Padden's violin, acoustic guitar and piano. "Early Music of theMorning" takes its cue from the "morning raga," a term used in Indianclassical music to connote a languid, relaxing melody appropriate formorning ablutions. Against a hazy drone, Padden pulls gently bendingtones from his cello that brilliantly mimic a sitar. The recurringmusical theme of "Still Flinging Clowns" most closely resemble theBear, with its shambling, whimsical atmosphere and vocal glossolalia.The intimate production captures those tiny flaws - the scrape of cellostrings, the clearing of throats - that lend an organic, present-tensequality to the music. With The Owl Of Fives, The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden has created a work of understated, melodic brilliance.samples:
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