ETHEL

Documerica

Two years ago the string quartet ETHEL premiered a work at BAM’s Next Wave Festival that was inspired by the EPA’s 1971 “Project Documerica,” which examined the state of the environment through photographs taken across the nation. “The playing was unfailingly vital, with space for each member to show off flamboyant prowess,” Steve Smith wrote of the inaugural concert in The New York Times.

“Documerica,” the album, arrives Nov. 13 via Innova records, and its scope is nearly the size of the nation itself. It pulls from several American artistic traditions, starting with a blues before veering through Native American traditional music, jaunty New Orleans swing, bluegrass and atonal modernist wanderings. Take a listen below.