In some ways, fivebyfive’s new album, “Breath & Fire,” out October 17, feels like a new era for the group. It’s the second of the group’s recordings to feature electric guitarist Ken Luk, but the musicians really seem to have settled in with one another.
“Dreadlocked” is the ideal opener: a minimalist rock track that makes the listener question what makes something classical and what doesn’t — if instrumentation is the distinguishing factor, and not the music itself, does that make genre distinctions arbitrary?
Marc Webster, the ensemble’s in-house audio engineer, contributes B3 organ riffs to mesmerizing effect. When paired with Luk’s guitar, the result is unrelenting prog vibes that mix surprisingly well with piano and woodwinds. The bombastic energy of “Dreadlocked” is sure to be popular with live audiences.
On Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “Pale as Centuries,” the melodies in the flute and clarinet travel jagged peaks and meandering pathways through the valleys below. Underneath this desolate beauty of high and low sounds are hypnotic ostinatos that make for an unsettling, but captivating listen.
Fans of ambient music will likely find a gem in “Öldurót,” or “Ocean Waves” by Ólafur Arnalds. Fivebyfive bassist Eric J. Polenik’s entirely acoustic arrangement captures the same undulations and ephemeral grace of the original 2016 electroacoustic track.
My favorite composition on the album is the last, “Tamboreño,” by Miguel del Águila. The swirling rhythms and pinprick riffs from guitarist Ken Luk are endless fun. It’s not often I consider a classical work to be danceable in the conventional sense, but “Tamboreño” is an exception. It also showcases the quintet’s superb chemistry.
Fivebyfive continues to impress as Rochester’s leading contemporary classical band. And although the album’s track order gets stuck in a predictable pattern of calm-chaotic-calm-chaotic, the compositions themselves are rendered fresh and engaging.
Daniel J. Kushner is an arts writer at CITY. He can be reached at dkushner@rochester-citynews.com.
This article appears in Sep 1-30, 2023.
