Fourplay – Now to the Future

FOURPLAY – Now To the Future
by Roger Holdsworth
The initial release by the FourPlay String Quartet (‘The Joy Of’) contained many unlikely covers of well known pop, rock and country classics by a modern string quartet.
Now the 2006 release from the same musicians continues that trend to some extent, but presents the adaptations more seamlessly as part of Fourplay’s own consistent music.
This is helped by an almost exact reversal of the proportion of covers to self-penned numbers, but also by their clever use of material by Radiohead, Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus/Rahsaan, Roland Kirk and Arthur Hamilton.
Don’t expect traditional string quartet sounds here, or even modern classical music.
These are edgy arrangements in which violin, viola and cello share space with vocals and beats and are as often dissonant as they are harmonious.
The sources of inspiration are more likely to be Bollywood, Appalachian folk or jazz, than the Renaissance.
In fact, it comes up in iTunes as ‘pop’.

You can have fun with FourPlay – and their music.
It is strong and well-played and a lovely sound in its own right.
But you can also put the CD on in the background at dinner parties and delight at the confused and intrigued looks from guests as they try to place the song, the tune, the influence.