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"My buddy Stephen Roberts of ZNR Records in Louisville Kentucky was kind enough to send me a pre-release copy of his band Ut Gret’s upcoming new studio release and I was pleasantly surprised. Steve plays keyboards and trumpet in this sextet and this will be the band’s third official release and there is some really great music here. Ut Gret have been together now almost a decade and the musicianship contained on this new disc is really tight.
Radical Symmetry is made up of eleven tracks ranging in length from a very brief :48 seconds which is perhaps more of a musical interlude to a rather lengthy 16:16. If you’ve never heard Ut Gret before this disc will be a real treat. The band structure their musical direction around a progressive rock feel but then inject all sorts of unusual instruments and sounds as well as a wide range of ethnic or world influences. They play like a jazz ensemble, with lots of individual solos coming in and out of the compositions; sometimes the notes are quite angular and even dissonant, but rarely to any lengthy degree. But to my ears what caught me off guard, is that while Ut Gret aren’t afraid to take these little musical excursions, they promptly return to some really meaty melodies and rhythms. Take for example the first track “Insect Probe” [3:22], where within seconds we’re into a rolling King Crimson kind of vibe that builds in intensity until it plateaus musically with woodwinds providing a lilting melody over top of the proceedings. It’s light and upbeat and yet totally serious in direction. The second track “Souvenir City” [6:18] begins with various reeds, woodwinds and other sounds all in a kind of “tuning up” mode for the first 60 seconds setting stage for a really subdued and very cool jazzy combo number that features vocals. This is a very neat track that returns to various themes over and over again. But my all time favorite track is “A Walk in the Garden” [5:09] with its beautiful melodies and flute work it’s really a moving piece of music. The challenge with a band like Ut Gret is that there is so much going on musically that it’s difficult to really describe the music; one minute it’s very avant-garde like a sound poem and the next it’s rumbling heavy prog, then out of nowhere the music sounds Middle Eastern, then were back to a jazzy feel and then it’s Asian no wait it’s almost ambient. Whew! The amount of musicality is simply mind-blowing!
Radical Symmetry won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I have to say if you enjoy adventurous progressive rock with symphonic and world influences played with a jazz flair, this is the disc for you. To my ears Ut Gret have really got it right with this disc, the experimentation is there both compositionally and in the performances, but they never lose the plot as it all hangs together on some really wonderful pieces of music. This is a very captivating disc that’s really worth every minute getting into." Jerry Lucky
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