Looking for a last minute gift idea for the holidays? Symbiotic Chamber Orchestra has got you covered with the release of their five-track digital album The Ghost and Mr. Able. The album is a collaboration between composer Sean Neukom and Will Lardinois who wrote all the songs together with Neukom creating the string quartet parts as well as singing, playing drums, and engineering the handsomely produced album.
So what is The Ghost and Mr. Able? A rock album? Chamber music? Prog rock/orchestral/fusion? Well, yes! I’m not going to do that annoying rock criticism thing where I try to ferret out all the influences that are apparent in an album and then throw in a few completely obscure band references to underscore the fact that I am as hip as you wish you were. We have the interwebs, so give it a listen. Also, buy for it yourself so that the Symbiotic Chamber Orchestra can pay the gas bill and make more great albums.
Speaking of Symbiotic Chamber Orchestra, they are part of Symbiotic Collusion which has also brought us Freya String Quartet. I mention this because you know how everybody is talking about how musicians need to be more entrepreneurial and there are classes in it at conservatories and stuff? And these are usually a very complicated way of saying, “You all better work your asses off because seriously, there are not many gigs out there. Also, tuition is going up next year.” Anyway, SC is doing the music entrepreneurship thing about well as anybody and it is very significant to me that they are not just out there hustling for gigs (which is commendable in any case), but that all the hustling is toward the goal of creating unique projects like this one. It’s a good model and one that I hope we see more of.