Speaks Volumes

Amazing music:
Nico Muhly's music reminds me of a combination of chamber music, Bjoerk's Medulla CD (Muhly actually played the piano on one of the pieces), and Philip Glass / Steve Reich / John Adams (in that order?) influence. The music is exciting, because there are many things happening, and often you wouldn't reall expect them. What's also imortant in this context is the producer, Valgeir Sigurdsson - who is not simply a producer in the classical sense, but who actively influences the music in his very own way. Do I recommend this? Certainly yes! A very good start - and my personal favorite - is the last song on the CD, "Keep in touch".

Headphone Commute Review:
Somewhere on the outskirts of Reykjavik lies an Icelandic label formed in 2006 by Valgeir Sigurdsson. Bedroom Community is a collective of artists from around the globe focusing on high quality aesthetic music. Its roster at the moment includes above mentioned Sigurdsson, Sam Amidon, worldwide hailed Ben Frost for his experimental noise album, Theory of Machines (my personal Best of 2007 selection), and our current subject, Nico Muhly. Muhly is a Vermont born NYC resident with a Masters in Music from the Juilliard School. Born in 1981, his biography is already full of collaborations with recognized modern composers like Philip Glass. My brief biographical note will not do Muhly justice, and The New Yorker has done a much better job of it in its article, Eerily Composed (google for it). As for Muhly's music... well it Speaks Volumes itself (pun intended). The first label release is breaks through with gorgeous modern classical chamber composition. With Muhly on the piano, and with an exquisite touch of cello, harp, clarinet, trombone, and yes, some electronic treatment, we get a glimpse into composer's soul through his emotion filled debut. Muhly begins a new chapter of postminimalist sound, overshadowing the stuffy halls of contemporary classical, struggling to keep its aging neck above the flood of modern ideas. Muhly's forthcoming release, Mothertongue, a composition in four movements, is due out in May '08, on Bedroom Community. Recommended for the likes of Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Max Richter, Sylvain Chauveau and Ryan Teague. Favorite track: Keep In Touch.

an album without music:
This is an interesting work of you are looking for a collection of weird sounds. It's really just a bunch of atonal sounds randomly tossed together. For those that think this is some gifted composer baring his soul or something, well, okay... Some will consider this high art. But then some consider a painting of a red square on a black canvas to be worthy of hanging in a museum. Some folks can read all sorts of meaning into something that inherently contains none. If you're that person, this album is for you. For those that aren't art snobs, though, this is an album of odd noises.

Fantastic!:
Consider Nico one of the great minds of contemporary classical. He is one of the great talents of this new century. Nico Mulhy's "Speaks Volumes" is an impressive first album, I for one am very excited to see what he puts together next. This past fall, I missed the debut of the piece that he composed for American Ballet Theater, but people who were there said it was brilliant.

Amazing for such a young talent:
My first impression upon hearing Joshua was that I had to have the album. Sadly there was no album yet so I was forced to rip the music from the DVD. Then an album came along and it was still missing a few minutes of music. After hearing the complete album, I developed a rare like for Nico Muhly. A rarity in the sense that no first-timer has impressed me this much. I sought out this item and while I enjoyed it, I couldn't help but thinking that it sounded like a kid learning the orchestra for the first time and just playing with notes to see how they work and ironically, they do. This album is a variety of strange musical cues that still manage to surprise me with their simplicity but effectiveness. Couldn't recommend this album more.