Longdrink Listening

Suilven Recordings have managed to stay off our radar for quite a considerable amount of time, until a friendly email informed us about the advent of their latest offering, a new CD by Daniel Patrick Quinn. In a mere two years, the label's catalogue has grown from a single disc to a remarkable ten and established a stylistic territory that defies traditional genre-borders. Even though the rules of success seem to dictate that a label need a fixed "drawer" into which to sort it, Suilven is happy to find itself between Classical and Modern music. While American Electroacoustic composer DAC Cromwell explores the boundaries of glistening and gravitating Ambient and Kurt Doles searches for tangents with Simphony Orchestras, Quinn (who is also the company's founder) has chosen for an entirely different approach. His pieces feature elements from medieval and folk music, include narrative passages and occasionaly wander off into a drifting dream of summer or melancholic post-rock fantasies. "Ridin the Stang" is a continuation rather than a break with tradition and again employs what Quinn calls "the Vodka Red Bull Principle": "Mix a depressant with a stimulant and see what happens". Therefore, there are "nasty" tracks on the album as well as "nice" ones and sometimes both elements meet at the same time. Conceived especially for live performances, the LPs outlook is "more commercial" (whatever that may mean in this context) and sees Daniel aiming to be the "hot new kid in town". Even if he should fail to beat Robbie Williams and Justin Timberlake, musically he comes pretty close with this effort.

Homepage: Suilven Recordings