The 432Hz Ensemble - Mirage EP

​The 432Hz Ensemble

​Mirage EP
self-released; 2016

4.0 out of 5

By Jamie Robash
​

There are plenty of genre fusions that have been tried in the past though they failed miserably or at least they failed after whoever was patronizing these genres finally sobered up and came to their senses. Think of rap-rock, or rap-metal, or any genre with the word rap and a hyphen before it. But sometimes, odd genre mixtures do work.

This is exactly the case for The 432Hz Ensemble whose members Wm Whitfield Krueger (guitar/percussion), Christian Krueger (bass), Leah De Leon (violin/percussion), Ethan Schroeder (guitar), John Amundson (guitar), Andrew Follett (drum set), Blake Montgomery (drum set, Cajon), Ryan Smith (dun dun), Connor Patrick (udu/percussion), Joel Olivas (shaker) and Bernadette Forte (bell) play a hybrid of genres which include world music from Africa and India, peppered at times with hints of jazz and even some old country guitar twang which probably has something to do with the fact that The 432Hz Ensemble formed in Denton Texas.

Each of the four tracks on The Mirage EP is uniquely exhilarating. This is largely to do with the fact that each of the four songs had a different composer. The Mirage EP begins with the C. Rajagopalachari composition "Kurai Ondrum Illai." It immediately blurs the lines of what music can be with some guitars playing a traditional Indian style melody and others playing the home on the range twang so associated with country which is joined by country violin sound that then weaves in and out of the genres.

​On “Sabilulungun” which is a traditional Sundanese composition, The 432Hz Ensemble find a way to keep it fresh using melodic starts and stops and screechy guitars, but also keep it from becoming too experimental by keeping the percussion traditional, which makes it enlightening and catchy all at the same time. They get experimental and jazzy on the seven-minute long “Caravan.” Originally composed by Duke Ellington & Juan Tizol it has the cool feeling of a Sean Connery era James Bond theme. The final track “Mirage” is just that, an eight-plus-minute spectacle that will have you second-guessing what you thought music could be.

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