John Metcalfe | john-metcalfe.co.uk | Official
The official website of John Metcalfe with news, discography, live gigs, downloads, shop and more
26 October 2008
More Reviews
Had some nice reviews for the album....
'This third album from New Zealand-born British composer and former Durutti Column and Duke Quartet member, is a woozy wedding of classical, electronica and ambient. String arranger by rock royalty appointment (Morrissey, The Pretenders, Blur) Metcalfe released his first album in 2004 and the fact this album is released by The Big Chill gives a good indication of where its heart lies. It's a gloriously schizophrenic collection, one minute lazily teasing out notes amid floaty atmospherics (opener Echo Valley), then jack-knifing into a 60's spy thriller set piece, heavy on brass and scratching (A Whole Day Nearer, Undertow). We're seven tracks in, at Nothing More True, before vocals arrive, and even then it's as a looped breathy syllable refracting back on itself. We don't get actual lyrics until an A&R-worrying ten tracks in, on You Call My Name, whose skittering beat mirror downbeat drum'n'bass'n'chillout duo Lamb. A wonderful wrong-footing of a music business built on the selling of vocalists as personalities'.
- Eamonn Forde, The Word
'It seems that every man and his dog wants to be a film composer nowadays. Very few actually know what it takes, let alone have the understanding, poise and ability to create that kind of emotive resonant sound. String specialist and ex-Durutti Cloumn member John Metcalfe however is one such musician'.
- DJ Magazine
'John Metcalfe made his name helping Vini Reilly to construct mesmerisingly ghostly guitar sculptures in the Durutti Column years ago, and has since established himself as one of the top string arrangers in Britain. His third album, though, owes at least as much to electronica as to classical.
One or two tracks engage in sub-Michael Nymanisms, but most of A Darker Sunset is that rare thing: ambient with an edge. Felt, Unseen deploys the repetition techniques of Steve Reich to create an awesomely lovely effect of twilight-after-rain, Parkstone is a dizzying trill of kaleidoscopic piano playing, and the stately beauty of The Shock of Recognition is only marred by an ill-advised synth line that wobbles along the track like a gaudy squiggle across a painting.
It would'e been easy for a man of Metcalfe's gifts to go down the more lucrative road of soporific chillout. Instead, this is imaginative and impressive'.
- Jonathan O'Brien, Sunday Business Post
Kings Place review
'This third album from New Zealand-born British composer and former Durutti Column and Duke Quartet member, is a woozy wedding of classical, electronica and ambient. String arranger by rock royalty appointment (Morrissey, The Pretenders, Blur) Metcalfe released his first album in 2004 and the fact this album is released by The Big Chill gives a good indication of where its heart lies. It's a gloriously schizophrenic collection, one minute lazily teasing out notes amid floaty atmospherics (opener Echo Valley), then jack-knifing into a 60's spy thriller set piece, heavy on brass and scratching (A Whole Day Nearer, Undertow). We're seven tracks in, at Nothing More True, before vocals arrive, and even then it's as a looped breathy syllable refracting back on itself. We don't get actual lyrics until an A&R-worrying ten tracks in, on You Call My Name, whose skittering beat mirror downbeat drum'n'bass'n'chillout duo Lamb. A wonderful wrong-footing of a music business built on the selling of vocalists as personalities'.
- Eamonn Forde, The Word
'It seems that every man and his dog wants to be a film composer nowadays. Very few actually know what it takes, let alone have the understanding, poise and ability to create that kind of emotive resonant sound. String specialist and ex-Durutti Cloumn member John Metcalfe however is one such musician'.
- DJ Magazine
'John Metcalfe made his name helping Vini Reilly to construct mesmerisingly ghostly guitar sculptures in the Durutti Column years ago, and has since established himself as one of the top string arrangers in Britain. His third album, though, owes at least as much to electronica as to classical.
One or two tracks engage in sub-Michael Nymanisms, but most of A Darker Sunset is that rare thing: ambient with an edge. Felt, Unseen deploys the repetition techniques of Steve Reich to create an awesomely lovely effect of twilight-after-rain, Parkstone is a dizzying trill of kaleidoscopic piano playing, and the stately beauty of The Shock of Recognition is only marred by an ill-advised synth line that wobbles along the track like a gaudy squiggle across a painting.
It would'e been easy for a man of Metcalfe's gifts to go down the more lucrative road of soporific chillout. Instead, this is imaginative and impressive'.
- Jonathan O'Brien, Sunday Business Post
Labels: A_Darker_Sunset, reviews
The Duke Quartet got this nice review from Tim Ashley in the Guardian for our performance of Steve Reich's 'Different Trains' at Kings Place.
'Hall Two is very different - a potentially more versatile and, it would seem, more popular - space, packed by a trendy crowd for a concert given by the Duke Quartet. Arvo Pärt's Summa, deftly and gracefully done, was followed by Steve Reich's Different Trains, a work for quartet and tape, in which the melodic contours of recorded speech form the basis of an exhilarating yet vaguely sinister portrait of travel and speed. Every lurch in tempo and volume registered thrillingly, and the response was enthusiastic'.
I didn't fully describe what an amazing day we had at Kings Place. Performing three different shows with only 30 minutes interval between each one to set up was intense to say the least but it was unbelievably exhilarating. Everyone played beautifully, the Duke Quartet, Max Richter and ensemble and all the musicians in my band. Full houses for all three shows made for a truly great afternoon.
'Hall Two is very different - a potentially more versatile and, it would seem, more popular - space, packed by a trendy crowd for a concert given by the Duke Quartet. Arvo Pärt's Summa, deftly and gracefully done, was followed by Steve Reich's Different Trains, a work for quartet and tape, in which the melodic contours of recorded speech form the basis of an exhilarating yet vaguely sinister portrait of travel and speed. Every lurch in tempo and volume registered thrillingly, and the response was enthusiastic'.
I didn't fully describe what an amazing day we had at Kings Place. Performing three different shows with only 30 minutes interval between each one to set up was intense to say the least but it was unbelievably exhilarating. Everyone played beautifully, the Duke Quartet, Max Richter and ensemble and all the musicians in my band. Full houses for all three shows made for a truly great afternoon.
Labels: concerts, Duke_Quartet, gigs, reviews
09 June 2007
Eros Eris
The shows at the Linbury of 'Eros Eris' went very well with the Guardian saying 'Composer John Metcalfe responds to this concept with gusto, his score alternating between lulling interludes and jagged tempests of percussive sound' and the Times stating 'Music by the composer John Metcalfe, played live by a four-piece band, slips from spare resonance to Reichian sprightliness to tingly film score stylings'. I guess they're right!
11 September 2006
ICA Guardian Review
Just got a copy of the Guardian Review for our show at the ICA last Wednesday.
"The event starts brilliantly with viola player/composer John Metcalfe. His band is a string trio (viola, violin and double bass) plus Bays drummer Andy Gangadeen, with additional synthesised support from a laptop. They play a smartly written, sharply defined repertoire (as demonstrated by Metcalfe's album Scorching Bay), but Gangadeen's supercharged style reveals an extra dimension in Metcalfe's material; the drums sit right on top of the beat, synchronising precisely with the urgent attack of the strings."
We like it!
The whole evening came off brilliantly so massive thanks to Sarah and Ben for putting it on. For the full review go here.
"The event starts brilliantly with viola player/composer John Metcalfe. His band is a string trio (viola, violin and double bass) plus Bays drummer Andy Gangadeen, with additional synthesised support from a laptop. They play a smartly written, sharply defined repertoire (as demonstrated by Metcalfe's album Scorching Bay), but Gangadeen's supercharged style reveals an extra dimension in Metcalfe's material; the drums sit right on top of the beat, synchronising precisely with the urgent attack of the strings."
We like it!
The whole evening came off brilliantly so massive thanks to Sarah and Ben for putting it on. For the full review go here.
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