Között - Között

Között

Között
self-released; 2014

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Között is a musical project of Gábor Tóth. He enlisted a number of supporting musicians for his recent self titled release. The album contains five instrumental songs which rely on guitar, bass, and drums. According to Tóth the artistic goals was to “melt together moods which are considered to be opposite, but sometimes occur in life simultaneously: sadness, loneliness/ joy, disturbance, inner aggression/ peace etc”. In all honesty I’m not sure how much I felt this dichotomy of emotions he tried implementing in the music but what I do notice was a good amount of creative and technical skill.

I listened to Között the same way I would a jazz album. Között relies on the subtleties and nuances in the music rather than building up walls of sound. The instruments are separated properly within the mix making it a pleasure to listen to on a nice pair of headphones.

Között is by no means a pop album. Tóth doesn’t present many melodies that will get stuck in your head. Thats being said it doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable to listen to. It’s fun simply focusing your attention on one  instrument or trying to consume the entirety of the song.

The first track “Amiről nem beszélhetek (What i can't talk about)” starts with a lone guitar playing harmonics and individual strings. The timing at which he plays is engaging and it doesn’t take to long for the bass and drums to enter. It feels jagged and juxtaposed but in a good way. The song evolves over the eight plus minutes while Tóth implements  a copious amount of changes.

Arguably the most ambitious track is “Földalatti vizek (Underground waters)” which is a dynamically rich song which gets closest to fulfilling his ambitious goal. I especially enjoyed the jazz inspired guitar on this song. Között has some inspired moments and applaud Tóth for keeping the instrumentation simple and letting the songs breath. Recommended.

Become A Fan

Tweet