Deerand by Quartet Diminished
Sound emerges from silence on “Deerand,” the opening and title track on the latest album by Quartet Diminished. What begins as a Near Eastern piano nocturn, accompanied by ominous underlying bass notes, grows tense with softly reverberating percussion and rises with the anxious notes of soprano sax and clarinet.
From a rock history perspective, Quartet Diminished is among the distant descendants of King Crimson, offspring of Robert Fripp’s exploratory vision of moving beyond musical boundaries. One could also cite other avenues into their music hailing from places where vanguard classical music and jazz comingle.
Quartet Diminished was founded in Tehran, Iran, in 2013 by guitarist Ehsan Sadigh. The plight of rock under the nation’s Shia fundamentalist regime has been fraught, with some bands licensed to perform, others arrested or forced to work abroad. Quartet Diminished recorded Deerand in Spain with a pair of guest stars, guitarist and MoonJune recording artist Markus Reuter and King Crimson bassist Tony Levin. Composition and improvisation converge into soundscapes suggesting both calm and carnage.
Stream or download Deerand at Amazon here.
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