»ArtsFest« is the kind of Ambient Jazz you can play on a gloomy Sunday. Feathery tunes echo from another room, while you postpone crawling out of bed. The Lemon Quartet’s sophomore album is warm, nostalgic, dreamy. »ArtsFest« reminisces in familiar tunes, repeats them, slowly, cautious. You might swear you heard this record in your childhood. But »memory is malleable«, the band lets us know. Recollections don’t depict the past exactly as it was. Rather, they re-present it in an image. According to the Lemon Quartet, remembering is a creative endeavor. They quote from music’s history, play with it waggishly. The wistful Americans manage to create a marvelous atmosphere. They avoid idealization and intemperance like seasoned raconteurs. Alas, these gents might be too careful. In the field of melancholic Ambient Jazz, »ArtsFest« doesn’t stand out from the crowd. I have difficulties pointing out stand-out moments. On the one hand, this is a testament to the thickness of the vapors of memory the quartet has conjured up. On the other, the payoff is missing contours. Maybe that’s alright. If you want to spend a cozy morning, you don’t expect it to be etched in your memory forever either.
Artsfest
