Magic Tuber Stringband / Neptune String Ensemble

Magic Tuber Stringband, hailing from North Carolina, probes the undercurrents of the landscapes around them. Highly skilled players and writers, the trio are leaders within the burgeoning avant composition world utilizing folk instrumentation. Their music appears to weave in and out of the fabric of their surroundings, reflecting their time spent living across the Southeast and studying its regional folk traditions and natural histories. Having performed recently at Big Ears, Hopscotch, Sound & Gravity (and many other places along the way) the group’s music resonates well beyond their regional roots. Their newest record, Heavy Water, will be out May 22 on the venerable Thrill Jockey Records. The ensemble continues to stretch the parameters of acoustic instrumental expression with masterful flourishes of dense, textural arrangements, subtle minimalist gestures and deft improvisation. The Neptune String Ensemble is a Southeast-Michigan-based string quartet that enjoys a good tune, Michigan-grown chamber music, nerding out over classic string quartet repertoire, and trying to make each other smile while playing.