Into the Cauldron

Album Review

On Into the Cauldron, mandolinists Mike Marshall and Chris Thile weave a vision of stunning precision. Both are extremely articulate players, and their instruments wrap around each other, each note sounding clearly and beautifully. In terms of material, the album is fairly typical post-David Grisman/Béla Fleck fare — a mix of genre-spliced original material, jazz standards ("Scrapple from the Apple"), classical arrangements ("The Goldberg Variations [Var. #1]"), and world influences ("Desvairada"). The duo excels in their arrangements, using two mandolins (and, sometimes, a mandolin and mandocello) to create a full and rich sound. In terms of pretty much everything but the execution, the album might seem like textbook 21st century "newgrass." But the execution is everything, and the record is well worth hearing. The album is capped by a beautifully harmonic-only reading of the traditional "Shamrock Shore," which seems to consolidate all of their technical achievements into a piece of ethereal perfection.