Album Review: Kronos Quartet & Bryce Dessner - Aheym

Celebrated American string group the Kronos Quartet have collaborated with just about anyone worth mentioning, from Tom Waits to Jimi Hendrix to Amon Tobin. For this release they're working with The National's guitarist Bryce Dessner.

An accomplished composer himself, Dessner has written four pieces based on his or his family's experience, all rooted in European heritage, and his penchant for drama is given full license to expand and indulge. It's a driven album, and he pursues ideas through dogged repetition and steady progress, much like his work with The National.

The title track, which is Yiddish for 'homeward', is based on his grandparents' settlement in Brooklyn, and the repeating allegro patterns that surge through the speakers have the same energy as they might've felt in the midst of their busy new home. Tenebre, the most sophisticated and rewarding piece, is an inversion of a candle ceremony, drawing the listener into light after a sombre beginning. It develops over several movements and pushes the capabilities of the instruments, playing with texture to achieve emotional resonance.

Aheym is enveloped in a rich atmosphere, especially with the addition of a choral section, and the limitations of having only four instruments to work with – all variations of the same – feel irrelevant. There's a vulnerability and fragility to the album, even during the intense moments bookending it, but as Dessner relentlessly drives the Quartet forward it feels like a noble grasp for some deep personal expression that is ultimately more fascinating than actually enjoyable.