Stuff You Should Be Listening To: "Fuzzbox" (The Section Quartet)

Never one to do anything on time, allison levin dusts off an album from 2007 and reviews it. Why should you listen to Fuzzbox, by The Section Quartet, and possibly risk reliving an awkward year? The answer lies after the jump, along with some awkward revelations.




Okay, I will admit two things to you. Right now. They're both kind of embarrassing, so perk up your little ears and put your fingers to the keys so you can talk to your tweetpeople about it or whatever it is you kids do nowadays with your technology boxes. (This review is taking us all the way back to 2007, which in internet terms might as well be forever and a half ago, so I'll suck it up and just go there. I'm an old lady, would you like some hard candies?) Anyway:

1: I am a former orchestra nerd. Violin.

2: I am a sucker for covers. Love them. Love them to death. As awful and karaoke-like as many can be, if I hear there's a cover for a song I love, I usually HAVE to hear it. I'm often disappointed, but I soldier on. It's a lot like my violin playing, come to think of it.

Anyway, what brings me to this? Fuzzbox does. The latest release from string quartet The Section Quartet, (yes that's first and second violin, viola and cello) tackles alternative and indie rock hits with instruments that pre-date those genres by hundreds of years. Well, I don't know how old Eric Gorfain's (first violin) violin is, but you get my gist.

The Section Quartet arranges and plays the songs, covering songs from Muse, Radiohead, David Bowie, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, among others.

Their cover of Muse's "Time is Running Out" may be the best track on the album. The artists successful navigate double-stopping to simulate percussion and intense pitch shifts to imitate the human voice in a way that almost makes you almost hear the words and pounding tempo.



But it's not my favorite. That goes to "Phenomena," the phenomenal Yeah Yeah Yeah's cover. With abrupt halts and excellent dynamics, it turns an already haunting song into an epic piece I would love to learn to play.

Queens of the Stone Age's "No One Knows" and David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World" are also pretty top-notch. As a girl who knows her way around a well-rosined bow, I was incredibly impressed.

This is an album that could easily get relegated to background music (and it has been, check Gossip Girl season 2, episode 6) and I see why. Classical music is often thought of as boring, and sometimes it really is. However, actually considering the skill that goes into compositions like this is something that makes you pay attention note-to-note. Maybe that's a bit too much credit to a cover of "Such Great Heights," but I think it's due.

If you ever wanted to look at popular songs in a new light, and discover what radio-friendly songs can be held up to a baroque lens and survive, it's a pretty interesting journey. At the very least, it's something you can put on and go "Oh wow, cool!" And though the gimmick will wear thin, the talent does not.

Just remember, kids, practice hard enough and you probably won't make it to Carnegie Hall. Figure out something like Fuzzbox, and you will fill a venue.

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allison levin