Michael Torke - Overnight Mail

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Michael Torke - Overnight Mail

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Michael Torke's music is not easy to categorise but if you want to sample it then the five pieces on this disc are a fine example of its attractiveness and variety. Whilst the six short pieces that comprise Change of Address are based on permutations of the same eight note chord in a blend most reminiscent of laid-back Bernstein and neo-classical Stravinsky, between the Yellow, Blue and White Pages of Telephone Book a stunningly successful partnership of pulsing, minimalist rhythmic propulsion and sinewy jazz melodies is co-existing. Add to this the quasi brass band close-harmonies of the middle movement of Overnight Mail and you have some idea of Torke's distinctive diversity. What is common to all this music though is its immediacy, as is amply demonstrated by the amazingly dexterous groups playing it here. My particular favourite is July given by the Apollo Saxophone Quartet whose sensual homogenous sound is animated by a vibrant articulation and sensitive ebb and flow of dynamics. Although five different venues were used to record these works, there is a uniform excellence to the sonics throughout. A happy production indeed.

The fist piece 'Overnight Mail' is awesome, I love the instrumentation here (lots of smooth brass and sultry saxes) and the music is catchy and fun. One of his best pieces in my opinion, it is wrought with the rhythmic dynamicism and melodic ingenuity that I have grown to love, and has a sort of 'late-night out in the city' feel.