The first album by David Soldier's Soldier String Quartet is something of a mixed bag with something of a rockish edge. The quartet is augmented by bass and drums virtually throughout the recording and sometimes, as on "Five Little Monsters," Hendrix-like electronic distortion is employed. The group thus comes off a bit grittier than the Kronos Quartet, which is entirely to their advantage. This bluesy approach is cemented in their medley "Three Delta Blues" by Skip James, Charley Patton, and Muddy Waters, which they pull off with verve and no condescension. If there's a problem, it's with Soldier's own compositions, which, at this stage in the group's career, are a bit stiff, having some of the math rock precision of Nick Didkovsky, a certain mechanical quality that makes for some awkward going. The title track uses a rap song by a female group called the Sequence as its base and generates some enjoyable, off-kilter rhythms as well as some strikingly vocalized string work, but, in retrospect, the drum work especially sounds a bit dated. Still, there's a good deal of strong work here and the Soldier String Quartet did provide something of an antidote to the occasionally saccharine output of the Kronos Quartet and other would-be avant string quartets of the '80s. Their fine work with Elliott Sharp on records like Tessalation Row might be a better place to start, however.
© Brian Olewnick /TiVo