One Cello x 16: Natoma

Zoe has made excellent use of electronics and a conventional instrument to produce a very pleasing (to my ears) CD. Nothing is overused and the instrument is the focus throughout rather than the "glitzy - look at what I can do" penchant that some other musicians have with electronics. It's not Bach, so don't look for that here. She's quite original in this recording.

Zoe Keating is not about talented cello playing. For that there's Yo Yo Ma. Zoe is about ground breaking artistry of essentially live editing of music while playing the cello live. There are some songs that are absolutely astonishing music to listen to, especially with good headphones. Her music can take you to altered states.

I heard Tetrishead on Youtube and decided I had to get the album. This is amazingly beautiful and expressive music, and works perfectly both for background music, or for more focused listening. I'd love to get the opportunity to see Zoe do this live!

Amazing, beautiful, haunting & unique. Great music to think / meditate / dream by.

This album is fabulous in many ways and should appeal to every listener without regard to his or her musical training. The music is beautiful and can be listened to actively with intense concentration or passively while doing other things. Moreover, each composition is a lesson for composers and performers.
Composers can study the rich variety she draws from each small set of musical material; and learn much about writing for string instruments in general and the `cello in particular. Performers, whether or not they are `cellists, can learn much from her astounding range of expression and nuance; and see the future of performance practice where electronic techniques merge seamlessly with live music performance. Both can judge for themselves the pros and cons of using so much ostinato.
The arrangement of compositions in this album creates a satisfying unity flowing from the first cut to the last. The rondo-like recurrence of the Legions composition (cast in a different expressive mode each time: War, Reverie and Aftermath) helps unify the listener's musical and emotional experience. The static, lugubrious nature of Frozen Angels fits nicely at the album's end between Legions Reverie and Legions Aftermath. In between the first exposition and recapitulation of Legions (War, then Reverie), she gives us four compositions: Fern; Tetrishead; Sun Will Set; and We Insist. Fern has a lyrical quality expressing, for this listener, an unrequited longing for something lost. Tetrishead has a driving, motoric feel. Sun Will Set may well be this writer's favorite composition in the album; it has a delicately expressive, patiently paced maestoso affect. We Insist is at the same time cantabile and pesante with its alternating mezzo piano melody and forte ostinato. Overall, there is a brooding, ominous affect to the music in this album, arising from the choice of music material and the sequence of compositions, and enhanced by the timbre of the `cello.