The New York Times: Julia Holter and the Spektral Quartet in the Ecstatic Music Festival

"First it was brusque, then eerie and sly. Julia Holter and the Spektral Quartet shared the Ecstatic Music Festival concert on Wednesday night at Merkin Concert Hall in a program that lingered in the cloudy zone where contemporary composition meets the pop song. In its sources and allusions, the concert took for granted the broad-spectrum musical erudition of current composers: hip-hop, medieval motets, Broadway, Impressionism, dubstep.  

Playing on its own, Spektral — a string quartet from Chicago — brought one piece, Liza White’s “Zin zin zin zin,” that got its title and its rhythmic thrust from a rap by Mos Def, and another, by Chris Fisher-Lochhead, that radically rearranged a moody electronic lament by James Blake, “I Never Learnt to Share,” along with Stravinsky’s “Concertino” from 1920. There was also Dave Reminick’s “Oh My God, I’ll Never Get Home,” which had the quartet singing a poem by Russell Edson about a man falling to pieces as he walks, with heaving music to match.

Each piece was introduced, with an explanation, by a quartet member; the violinist Clara Lyon smiled as she praised the “weird things happening” in “Concertino.” The pieces had a shared palette: dissonant and clenched, with fleeting moments of delicacy giving way to more tension. The quartet played attentively, poised or just harsh enough, savoring the suspense; none of the new pieces overstayed. They were confident miniatures, rich in implications."

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NYTimes: Julia Holter and the Spektral Quartet in the Ecstatic Music Festival

“First it was brusque, then eerie and sly. Julia Holter and the Spektral Quartet shared the Ecstatic Music Festival concert on Wednesday night at Merkin Concert Hall in a program that lingered in the cloudy zone where contemporary composition meets the pop song. In its sources and allusions, the concert took for granted the broad-spectrum musical erudition of current composers: hip-hop, medieval motets, Broadway, Impressionism, dubstep…

Ms. Holter and the quartet also performed Alex Temple’s song cycle “Behind the Wallpaper,” which, Ms. Temple has said, includes Ms. Holter’s music among its inspirations. The lyrics of the brief songs in “Behind the Wallpaper” sketch surreal transformations and spooky situations: a character who has been swallowing seawater and live fish, another wandering a house where the walls keep shifting. The songs were atmospheric with ambiguous tonality, drawing chuckles along with hushed curiosity. They quivered, hovered, paused and slipped in and out of ghostly waltzes before the last one, “Spires,” resolved into the sweet major chords of an old movie score’s happy ending, followed by the sound of rising waves — a flood, perhaps, drowning all the strangeness.”

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Village Voice: Julia Holter and Spektral Quartet Embrace the Surreal for Ecstatic Music Festival

“Both the title and subject matter seemed to reference Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s feminist classic “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Though Temple’s character is not confined to one room, her odd visions signify the same descent into psychosis brought on by a life of mendacity. Holter’s exaggerated, elongated syllables and measured, bouncy tempo were more reminiscent of Björk’s timbre than Holter’s often more ethereal overtones. But the feeling of disorientation and displacement is one that Holter has previously examined, most notably on her 2013 LP, Loud City Song. ThoughLoud City takes an approach based more deeply in reality, “Behind the Wallpaper” felt like an exploration of a different side of the same spinning coin, a dizzying collage of dreamlike impressions cleverly obscuring a straightforward narrative.

While at times it was difficult to get a firm grasp on “Wallpaper,” there was also a sense that Temple wanted it that way — somewhere between avant-garde composition, mysterious artifact, and sci-fi thriller. Even at a time when genre tends to blur and bend, it’s still rare to see performances as unique and risky as this, and the combo of Holter’s bewitching vocal delivery and Spektral Quartet’s spirited strings provided an especially stirring showcase for the work. We have Ecstatic Music Festival to thank for that, at least in part. With upcoming pairings from ETHEL with Kaki King and John King, Xiu Xiu with Mantra Percussion, an 80th birthday celebration for Terry Riley, and a handful of others, there’s no shortage of distinctive, idiosyncratic events to give music fans plenty to feel ecstatic about.”

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The Village Voice: Julia Holter and Spektral Quartet Embrace the Surreal for Ecstatic Music Festival

"While at times it was difficult to get a firm grasp on "Wallpaper," there was also a sense that Temple wanted it that way — somewhere between avant-garde composition, mysterious artifact, and sci-fi thriller. Even at a time when genre tends to blur and bend, it's still rare to see performances as unique and risky as this, and the combo of Holter's bewitching vocal delivery and Spektral Quartet's spirited strings provided an especially stirring showcase for the work."

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Bad Entertainment: Julia Holter & Spektral Quartet

"One of the greatest strengths of the current generation of young classical composers is their willingness to test the boundaries of what “classical” vocal music is supposed to sound like. Holter may not sing in a traditional classical style, but in Monday’s concert she maintained incredible control over a voice that gave ideal expression to both Temple’s and her own writing. Meanwhile, in both the vocal and instrumental pieces, the Spektral Quartet demonstrated meticulous technique alongside a real zeal for the music they were performing. After Monday’s debut of this program in Saint Paul, Holter and the quartet will repeat it tonight as part of New York’s Ecstatic Music Festival and again tomorrow night in two performances in Chicago."

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Chicago Tribune: Alex Temple's Voice Comes Alive

“For "Behind the Wallpaper," Temple preferred a sympathetic vocalist with a subtle delivery, which is why she wanted Holter's unadorned mezzo-soprano rather than a dramatic opera-trained singer. The score seems sparse, but there are unusual twists to its underlying harmonic language. Different meanings can also be read into the imaginative story, which connects to Temple's own transgender experience.

"Being a trans person and going through reconfiguring aspects of my social presentation, appearance and (the) way I conceive of myself has made me very aware of the artifice involved in how people represent themselves visually and bodily," Temple said. "A lot of queer art is too heavy-handed or self-aggrandizing. I wanted to deal with it more obliquely."

Armbrust added that as a nonconformist classical musician, he can identify with some of that perspective.

"What Alex is trying to get at is (that) going through something so transformational may put you outside of society," Armbrust said. "But you don't end up just by yourself."“

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Chicago Tribune: Alex Temple's voice comes alive

"Chicago composer Alex Temple said she usually writes about "characters who are removed from society, dropped out or view the world in an askew way."  

Her new "Behind the Wallpaper" uses surreal metaphors to narrate an unexplained transformation that reflects her own journey. Singer-songwriter Julia Holter and the locally based chamber ensemble Spektral Quartet will premiere the piece next week. All of them are also outsiders in their own ways."

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New Music Box: THE SPEKTRAL QUARTET GOES TO PIECES (AND ROTS)

"Reminick’s score, and its performance Saturday night, was bracing, original, and often jaw-dropping. The first movement, “Killing the Ape,” offers a startling take on the soli/tutti vibe of a concerto grosso, as violinist Austin Wulliman and violist Armbrust each alternate between his usual instrument and a second, gamba-style instrument held between his legs. This movement makes excellent use of the ultra-slow bow speed that creates an unpitched click from individual “grains” of the bow hair. Armbrust, in particular, got his bow to click so loudly that several audience members jumped. All this was delivered beneath Lyon’s ballsy, unaffected delivery of the sung text. In terms of singing in The Ancestral Mousetrap, this is Lyon’s big jazz solo, and her earnest, amateur lounge singer vibe was appealing."

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Chicago Sun-Times: LADY GAGA, TONY BENNETT, U2, SLEATER-KINNEY AMONG THE 2015 CHICAGO CONCERT SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

"Opposites still attract. Local chamber ensemble Spektral Quartet adds to its avant-garde repertoire (including a ringtone project and live sampler packs of old-school and super modern classical works) by partnering with Pitchfork favorite Julia Holter. The electronic artist helps debut Alex Thomas’ new composition, “Behind the Wallpaper.”

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American Composers Forum: Spektral Quartet Interview

“Behind the Wallpaper came about like the vast majority of our commissions do…we were keen to work with a specific composer. Alex Temple, who is based in Chicago, and has an uncanny knack for uncovering the oblique, the humorous, and even the sublime through the idiom of pop musics. While she’s hip to Lachenmann and Ligeti, etc etc etc, Alex doesn’t rely on a bevy of extended techniques to create anticipation and the feeling of something new. As a performer, it’s a wondrous thing, to see a score that doesn’t look like the blueprint for the next particle accelerator, and yet has the audience (and the players) buzzing long after the show is over. That isn’t to say we don’t thrive on those kinds of pieces. It’s just that Alex has found a peculiar, devastatingly honest way of delivering music.”

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American Composers Forum: An Interview with Doyle Armbrust of Spektral Quartet

"The American Composers Forum is pleased to co-present “Behind the Wallpaper” by composer Alex Temple, performed by The Spektral Quartet and Julia Holter on February 23, 2015 as part of the Liquid Music Series in the Twin Cities. Chris Campbell, the Operations Director of the label of the American Composers Forum, innova Recordings, recently spoke with Doyle Armbrust from Spektral and asked him to share his thoughts about the mysterious and lyrical “Behind the Wallpaper” and a few other topics.

How did Spektral’s involvement in “Behind the Wallpaper” come about, and is there anything to keep in mind or listen for when we hear it February 23?

Behind the Wallpaper came about like the vast majority of our commissions do...we were keen to work with a specific composer. Alex Temple, who is based in Chicago, has an uncanny knack for uncovering the oblique, the humorous, and even the sublime through the idiom of pop musics. While she's hip to Lachenmann and Ligeti, etc etc etc, Alex doesn't rely on a bevy of extended techniques to create anticipation and the feeling of something new. As a performer, it's a wondrous thing, to see a score that doesn't look like the blueprint for the next particle accelerator, and yet has the audience (and the players) buzzing long after the show is over. That isn't to say we don't thrive on those kinds of pieces. It's just that Alex has found a peculiar, devastatingly honest way of delivering music."

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Q2 Music: 10 Imagination-Grabbing, Trailblazing Artists of 2014

"One of the coolest and craziest new-music projects of the year came from Chicago’s Spektral Quartet. In March 2014, the ensemble blew up in pockets everywhere with "Mobile Miniatures" – over 45 ringtones, alarms and mobile alerts commissioned from a who’s who of outside-the-box 21st Century music makers, from Pulitzer Prize winner David Lang to onetime MacArthur fellow George Lewis to Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier and, best of all, quite a few composers from whom I’d never heard (and am glad I have now). Insanely innovative gimmick aside, it’s really good music and a brilliant, cross-discipline introduction to today’s freshest voices. My girlfriend really hates waking up to extended string techniques, though." 

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Bent Frequency hosts Spektral Quartet for dazzling concert of avant-garde music

"Spektral Quartet gave Crumb’s “Black Angels” a vivid, compelling performance. The group was an excellent complement to Bent Frequency, and the pairing of these two ensembles on a common stage will surely go down as one of the programming coups of the calendar year."  

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The Courier-News: Side Street Gallery summons Spektral Quartet

Side Street Studio Arts

"For the next two hours, the artists of Spektral Quartet delivered one amazing performance after another, challenging our notions of what to expect from a string quartet, and pushing the boundaries of what’s musically possible.

Aptly named “The Sampler Pack” because of its variety, the nine-part program spanned almost 200 years of music history, and included works ranging in length from five seconds to more than ten minutes, punctuated by impromptu remarks from the musicians themselves.

In contemporary pieces from Philip Glass and Bernard Rands, the ensemble tightly synchronized their body language and breathing, displaying what violinist J. Austin Wulliman later described as a “group mind” that can only be formed after innumerable hours of rehearsal together. Violinist Clara Lyon, the newest member, meshed seamlessly in this, her first appearance with Spektral."

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Chicago Classical Review: Lee Hyla receives a zealous musical tribute at Northwestern

"Hyla seems to relish the fashioning of pithy titles, but the final work presented is more traditionally labeled, his String Quartet No. 4. A model for the piece seemed to be Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 2, with each instrument adopting distinct personalities, and alliances shifting with assent or anger. He also fleetingly conjured Bartok with a nod to a famous theme from his Concerto for Orchestra in the viola line. The Spektral Quartet gave a vivid and idiomatic reading of an engaging work that amply rewarded their considerable preparation."

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