The Fretless are a Juno Award winning string quartet, playing a shifting blend of folk genres with fresh energy, intricate arrangements, impeccable musicianship and easy (sounding) interaction developed over more than a decade together. If there was a music festival for folks like this, one would expect to see them sharing a bill with the Kronos Quartet and Goat Rodeo.
"Caledonia" is the song that first grabbed my attention, hearing it for the first time one afternoon on Folk Alley; surely a stop what you’re doing and stare at your speaker moment! It opens with a mysterious swell of lower register strings that immediately grab your heart. This was also my introduction to the voice of Madeleine Roger, who brings to mind the lovely timbre and phrasing of Aoife O’Donovan. The interweaving melody and textures of the strings and vocals are irresistible. The song set off a chain reaction, resulting in a long YouTube dive into The Fretless back catalogue, with side trips to Madeleine Roger's work and comparison viewing of work by similar artists. Hours flew by!
The first track on Glasswing, “Lost Lake,” treats one to lively bowed and plucked strings, soaring and swooping somewhere between Celtic and classical, high energy and complex, fun and conversational. Album credits identify viola, cello and fiddle (videos of The Fretless in concert show that they are indeed fiddlers as they play standing!). Cellist Eric Wright needs a violin/fiddle equivalent monicker for his cello; he is frequently the “percustringist,” plucking and chuffing the strings while bowing the low melodies. The arrangements never stray from what can be done in concert and the attention to aural detail in the production heightens the sense of luminous communication the band has developed over the years. "Turtle Bay" is a particularly lilting composition, cinematic and haunting. Songs such as “Tree Finder” and “On The Hook” are almost narrative with their lyrical melodies, as rhythms and motifs emerge from one another like Russian dolls. "Pipe Dream" is a pop song at heart, but the string arrangement levels it up in complexity and sonic interest. "Icarus" again finds Madeleine Roger lending qualities of melodic phrasing to match that of her stringed accompaniment. The arrangement is punctuated by processed fiddling that sounds like startled birds taking wing around the soon to fall Icarus—stunning! Have a listen to Glasswing and we’ll chat about it at the No Fret Rodeo Festival! —Michael Devlin
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