A GRAMMY-winner while in his 20s, violin prodigy Jeremy Kittel (formerly of the Turtle Island Quartet) has assembled an incredible group of young players for his Compass Records debut, WHORLS. Known as a composer-arranger-collaborator for such diverse artists as My Morning Jacket, Yo-Yo Ma & the Silk Road Ensemble, and Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, the Brooklyn-based artist has built his own repertoire of music for this new group. Comprised of Kittel, mandolin phenom Josh Pinkham (named "the future of the mandolin" by Mandolin Magazine), Canadian guitarist Quinn Bachand, cellist Nathaniel Smith (Sarah Jarosz, Kacey Musgraves), and hammer-dulcimer wizard Simon Chrisman, these players effortlessly reference a dazzling array of acoustic music styles, from Celtic and bluegrass to folk and jazz. WHORLS introduces us to the group's visceral-yet-precise musicianship on these 11 tracks. While WHORLS is largely an instrumental album, Kittel sings on the moody, haunting track, "Waltz," supported by friend and colleague Sarah Jarosz lending ethereal backing vocals. Listen to "Waltz" on Spotify.The title, WHORLS, refers to patterns of spirals, which Kittel explains as "something you'd see in a plant or a lot of different natural formations." He says that the music itself was "born out of this desire to connect with the internal voice." The album's first single "Pando" was originally written for the Detroit Symphony, and it was driven by a compelling violin melody that evolves from its timid entrance to urgent plight. The album's scope ranges from buoyant rhythmic undercurrent of tracks like "The Boxing Reels" to the longingly bittersweet "Home in the World" -- a song named in honor of the late journalist Daniel Pearl and a collection of his writings.
TRACK TITLES:
1. Pando
2. The Boxing Reels
3. Alpena
4. Home in the World
5. Preludio
6. Interlude
7. Chrysalis
8. Fields of Brooklyn
9. Waltz (featuring Sarah Jarosz)
10. Ohmstead
11. Nethermead
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