Collaborations between classical players and composers associated with rock are no longer surprising. By now, most Radiohead fans know that Jonny Greenwood writes orchestra works. Fans of Annie Clark and Sufjan Stevens may have seen those singers’ chamber-music pieces show up on albums by groups such as yMusic. One thing that has remained rare, though, is the indie-meets-classical “merged ensemble.” While someone like Bryce Dessner may play guitar in a classical group, we haven’t seen him include his bandmates from the National in any original items written for the Kronos Quartet.
So it is genuinely notable to find the members of Deerhoof hanging with an elite contemporary classical group like Ensemble Dal Niente. Even more impressive is the fact that the Deerhoof players aren’t here to perform arrangements of their own music. Instead, this collaborative album opens with Dal Niente and Deerhoof tearing through a seven-movement suite by Brazilian-American composer Marcos Balter, titled "meltDown Upshot." This 23-minute opus takes full advantage of this mega-ensemble’s chamber chops and rock edge—just like you’d hope—but it doesn’t stop there. When he’s not indulging in minimalist-inspired patterns or proggy progressions, Balter also includes some gestures that sound copped from the world of avant-jazz.
That’s a lot of textures for any one composer to handle well. Though Balter pulls it off. His writing engages with the diverse talents of this group without ever feeling choppy. The contemplative first movement, “Credo,” places the delicate (but confident) vocals of Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki over writing for strings and piano that often glides over the minor second interval—a doleful semitone hop that receives tender-lullaby handling, here. The second movement introduces Greg Saunier’s drums and Ed Rodriguez’s electric guitar arpeggios, and it has a lightly propulsive feel.
A hint of manic writing announces the third movement, “Ready,” which is packed full of short, exciting riffs for the full ensemble, as well as saxophone squall and fast-moving vocal figures. Plucked strings, piano and Saunier’s drums animate the memorable “True/False.” Later on, “Cherubim” builds on the indie-power first introduced during “Ready.” This time, the drums and guitars hit harder—yet they don’t obscure the contributions of the Dal Niente players, either. And while this passage represents the height of freneticism during "meltDown Upshot," the climax of the piece is delivered by the more optimistic-sounding harmonies of “Rapture,” the closing movement. Overall, this feels like a major composition from Balter. And it’s also a triumph for the musicians of Dal Niente and Deerhoof. The performance comes from a group that sounds like a group, rather than two bands taking a flier on a cross-genre experiment.
On the record's other long track, Dal Niente play the music of Deerhoof, as newly arranged by Saunier himself. Though, in keeping with the band’s own fragmented aesthetic, these aren’t straight-up transcriptions. The stomping chords from the beginning of “Rainbow Silhouette of the Milky Rain” (originally heard on the album Milk Man) have been pulled apart a bit in the version that appears almost four minutes into "Deerhoof Chamber Variations." Now the barnstorming line sounds more akin to the work of John Adams, circa that composer’s madcap Chamber Symphony.
Touches like these keep Saunier’s recasting of various Deerhoof themes from seeming under-thought. But even when the music is smart and attractive, the roving unpredictability of the band’s own performances is not always captured by these arrangements. Nor does the overall shape of this 20-minute work have the same force as Balter’s major piece. Still, Dal Niente’s playing is always vibrant, and it’s interesting to hear Saunier stretching in this way. Deerhoof and Dal Niente are both plenty busy with their more typical efforts, but their joint-venture debut sounds far too good to be a one-off.
