Invoke Releases New Album 'EVOLVE & TRAVEL' On Sono Luminus

Multi-instrumental quartet Invoke (Nick Montopoli, violin/banjo/vocals; Zach Matteson, violin/vocals; Karl Mitze, viola/mandolin/vocals; Geoff Manyin, cello/vocals) has released Evolve & Travel, its newest album and debut with Sono Luminus. This new record marks the group's tenth anniversary and features seven original works. Each song reflects Invoke's growth as people, composers, and as friends with a rich history of shared creative experiences and personal memories.

Invoke's journey from strangers to string quartet is an intriguing tale. All students at the University of Maryland, the last place Montopoli, Matteson, Mitze, and Manyin expected to bond over a deep appreciation for new American music was in the heart of Tuscany, Italy, busking for “spaghetti money” on the medieval streets of Siena while there for a summer music festival. That shared spark followed the four friends back to Maryland and from there, excitement, drive, and a desire to stand apart from their quartet competitors in a chamber music competition inspired the group to embrace multifaceted musicality. Learning to play and write music for instruments like the banjo and mandolin, Invoke took their creative scope –– both as composers and ever-curious storytellers –– beyond the bounds of classical convention.

Invoke instilled their versatility, compositional creativity, and artistic spirit into the seven original works on Evolve and Travel, while also highlighting the strengths of Mitze and Montopoli as songwriters and composers. The music lets the group completely abandon any semblance of the traditional “string quartet” formality and focus on what makes “Invoke” Invoke –– best friends who make the music they love to hear, weaving together threads of classical technique, folk improvisation, and musical camaraderie.

Evolve and Travel was born out of Invoke's experience of (and evolution during) the pandemic and of being back on the road, traveling again. After a strenuous touring schedule from 2018 to 2020, like all other musicians in spring 2020, the members of Invoke found themselves without an agenda.

Violinist Zach Matteson summarizes the experience: "The unexpected bright side of the pandemic lockdown was an excess of time and a newfound drive to be creating music that connected with people in a virtual space on a regular basis. We dug deep to create new work at a faster pace than ever before and Evolve and Travel is a direct result of that. A lot of the new tunes have individual inspirations, but certainly you can say they express an aspect of what we were interested in during our time in lockdown –– from books that we were reading and other periods of history that we were looking back on, to a need for hope and optimism in the face of great doubt. Coming together amid our tenth year together as a group, Evolve & Travel is a culmination of lessons we have learned along the way. From the straight-ahead sound of the string quartet to a blend of voice, mandolin, banjo, and strings, this album showcases the entire scope of our growth as musicians, composers, and collaborators."

Hailed by The Capital Gazette as writing music that is “versatile and musically adventurous, [and] way more than classical,” and according to the Capital Gazette, “bust[ing] through genres in…spicy performances,” Invoke embraces exploration and kinship through music that is far reaching both in its technical ambition and social and cultural curiosity.

Evolve & Travel joins Invoke's discography which began with Souls in the Mud (2015), featuring original works composed by Invoke and works by composer Danny Clay; Furious Creek (2018), featuring original compositions and arrangements; and Fantastic Planet (2021), an original soundtrack composed by the group inspired by the 1973 French animated feature.

Evolve and Travel | Invoke | Sono Luminus | Release Date: October 27, 2023 (Digital, CDs, Worldwide)

[1] Burlywood 4:42
[2] Prohibition Song 5:55
[3] Alchemy 4:33
[4] Doorway 4:13
[5] Evolve and Travel 6:42
[6] Syl 4:51
[7] Dustbowl 3:01

[Total Time: 33:57]

Geoff Manyin, cello/vocals
Zach Matteson, violin/vocals
Karl Mitze, viola/mandolin/vocals
Nick Montopoli, violin/banjo/vocals

Composer: Burlywood, Prohibition Song, Evolve and Travel, and Syl - Karl Mitze
Composer: Alchemy, Doorway, Dustbowl - Nick Montopoli
Editing Engineer: Nick Montopoli
Recording Engineer: Charlie Kramsky
Recorded at 12th St. Studios on July 25th and 26th, 2022 & Spectra Studios on December 16th, 2022
Mixing/Mastering Engineer: Daniel Shores
Executive Producer: Collin J. Rae and Sono Luminus
Management & PR: Jensen Artists
Photography: Marshall Tidrick
Graphic Design: Joshua Frey

About Invoke:

Described as “...not classical but not, not classical…beautiful, adventurous, American and immediately engaging” (David Srebnik, former SiriusXM Classical Producer), Invoke (Nick Montopoli, violin/banjo/vocals; Zach Matteson, violin/vocals; Karl Mitze, viola/mandolin/vocals; Geoff Manyin, cello/vocals) strives to successfully dodge even the most valiant attempts at genre classification. The multi-instrumental quartet encompasses traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism. Fueled by their passion for storytelling, Invoke weaves all of these styles together to form a unique contemporary repertoire, featuring original works composed by and for the group.

Invoke was selected to be the Young Professional String Quartet in Residence at the University of Texas at Austin from 2016-2018. The group also participated in the Emerging String Quartet Program at Stanford, and was selected as an Artist in Residence at Strathmore, the Emerging Young Artist Quartet at Interlochen, and the Fellowship String Quartet at Wintergreen Performing Arts. In 2018, Invoke was named a winner of the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition in New York, NY, received First Prize at the M-Prize International Chamber Arts competition in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and received First Prize in the Coltman Competition in Austin, Texas.

Invoke has shared the stage with some of the most acclaimed chamber groups in the country, including the Westerlies, Miró and Ensō Quartets, and the U.S. Army Field Band. Additional performance highlights include Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Green Music Center, a concerto appearance with the Brevard Sinfonia, a residency at the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Institute, and performances on the NextNOW Festival at University of Maryland and Festival Amadeus in Montana. Invoke has also appeared with musicians from various genres, including chamber rock group San Fermin, indie group Never Shout Never, and DC beatboxer/rapper/spoons virtuoso Christylez Bacon.

Invoke is strongly committed to championing diverse American voices through commissioning and highlighting new music. Invoke's ongoing commissioning project, entitled American Postcards, asks composers to pick a time and place in American history and tell its story through the group's unique artistry. They have commissioned eight new works since 2017, including the latest addition to the initiative, The Lessons of History, by Jonathan Bingham, which premiered in summer 2021.

In addition to American Postcards, Invoke has performed and recorded numerous world premieres, including works by Joseph C. Phillips Jr., Armando Bayolo, and Geoff Sheil. The group's recording credits appear on bassist/composer Ethan Foote's solo album Fields Burning, singer/songwriter Marian McLaughlin's Spirit House, jazz/soul singer Rochelle Rice's EP Wonder, and many more.

For more information, visit www.invokesound.com.

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