Sonic Sunday: Creaking Tree String Quartet

If the 'Creativity' Blues has ya stuck down in a county dirt road rut! Like moi (if ya can't tell from the repetitive writing)...then clear some headspace and down that shot glass for a hit of some spirited sounds from the Creaking Tree String Quartet. The Toronto foursome brought their bluegrass, jazz, folk, classical and roots fusion music to a very small crowd at MacKenzie Hall last night. The ever changing tempos and time signatures slowly and quickly changed the mood from a quiet soberness to knockdown inebriation. Their influences are a mixed concoction of sounds but the style and taste is distinct and all their own. They are not 'Down' with the Mountain but excavating it and giving us a new precipice to look off of. From the opening song of Spacehead to the closing number, these guys didn't let the small turn out (lack of promotion) spoil the pot. Instead, the sound fermented as we got punch-drunk on tunes from their soon to be released third album. This is live music at it's best for me. Too bad there weren't more people there to share the experience with. I know these guys will eventually be back, so be sure to be looking through the smog as this was one gasp of fresh air that left me reeling and an improvisational cure-all for my 'creativity' blues.