{"id":5827,"date":"2023-05-07T22:24:08","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T03:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=5827"},"modified":"2023-05-10T09:46:44","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T14:46:44","slug":"music-heart-friedlander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/music-heart-friedlander\/","title":{"rendered":"Music at the Heart: A Conversation with Erik Friedlander"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the cello established itself as a mainstay in Western European classical music due to its capacity to provide both an intimacy to small chamber ensembles and grandeur to large symphony orchestras. The instrument\u2019s appeal in this space is undeniable; few can listen to Bach\u2019s Cello Suites, specifically the prelude, without being moved. But the cello has always provided access to a palette wider than its classical lineage suggests. Solo, it can access the whole sonic range from bass to soprano. As such, it should come as no surprise that improvisation-based music has its own history of cellists, from Oscar Pettiford to Tomeka Reid. And, even today’s arguably most critically lauded classical cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, has stretched beyond Beethoven or Brahms to encompass Appalachian folk, bluegrass, and Brazilian music. With\u00a0She Sees<\/em>\u00a0(Skipstone, 2023), Erik Friedlander showcases the cello\u2019s power as a rival of the electric guitar in the rock realm.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In full disclosure, Friedlander is hardly the first to explore heavier sounds of the \u201clittle violone.\u201d This is not even the first album by his Sentinel, a self-proclaimed \u201cgarage band of the 2020s\u201d with guitarist Ava Mendoza, percussionist Diego Espinos, and newcomer bassist Stomu Takeishi. But She Sees <\/em>is often heavier sounding and more incendiary than its artistic predecessors. Further, where groups like the Electric Light Orchestra, Apocalyptica, or 2Cellos, have all considered the adaptability of the instrument to rock bands, what seems to set Friedlander\u2019s Sentinel apart is its unapologetic adoration of the cello\u2019s natural tones. Rather than attempt to disguise its strings as some bastardized electric guitar or a tool of alien origin, Friedlander largely lets the instrument be itself regardless of the environment which surrounds it. Manipulations of its tone are used sparingly and delicately. The result is tracks like \u201cBaskets, Biscuits, Rain\u201d where the folksier elements of the cello meet a driving blues-rock. Across the album, Mendoza adds a raw grittiness that contrasts particularly well with Friedlander\u2019s often purer impulses, perhaps best seen with the interspersal of surprising elegance between funky rhythms and raw thrashing punkishness on “Tremor, Blink.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She Sees<\/em> is continually a work of contrasts and surprises. It is difficult to predict where it will go next. Sometimes, that even includes artful use of space between phrases, perhaps best evidenced in the sparseness of \u201cHeatwave. Friedlander, a virtuoso of New York City\u2019s experimental Downtown scene, is well acquainted with such stylistic shifts. His recorded history includes contemporary classical music, jazz, rock, Americana, and klezmer, with hues of each emerging throughout She Sees<\/em>. We sat down with Friedlander to discuss the album\u2019s origins, his compositional approach, and the cello’s role in improvised music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PostGenre: This is your second album with the group Sentinel. How did the band first come together?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Erik Friedlander: Well, I was looking for a different group to write for, and I had worked with Ava Mendoza before. I just felt like an electric guitar was the voice I wanted to feature. I also wanted to use some of the rock influences that I had since my high school days. The electric guitar has always been an instrument I loved.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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