KQED Highlights Kronos Quartet

Northern California’s KQED devoted some time in a recent California Report to delve into Folk Songs, the new album from the “visionary” San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet that features vocalists Natalie Merchant, Olivia Chaney, Sam Amidon, and Rhiannon Giddens. “Part of what makes Folk Songs such a departure for Kronos,” says the feature, “is what’s not here. We often expect instrumental pyrotechnics and exotic timbres from the ensemble. ‘Folk Songs’ slows the action down, luxuriating in traditional American forms… Kronos keeps the spotlight on the singers, who fully inhabit a series of soundscapes haunted by death, separation and judgment day.” Read the full thing here.

Four decades into a career as the classical ensemble of choice for avant-garde composers like Philip Glass and cutting-edge pop stars like David Bowie, Kronos Quartet is making huge inroads at college and non-commercial radio with Folk Songs. The album is currently #60 on the NACC chart – help it go higher!