Consider the Source introduced themselves as a “sci-fi middle eastern” band, returning after two years to Ithaca at The Dock. Gabriel Marin plays a double neck guitar, one side fret-less and the other standard, which together with a “sci-fi” range of effects offered almost every sound but what one could expect from a guitar-bass-drums trio. The set started with soaring melodic progressions which returned to the same Balkan and Turkish harmonic cores, only to be interrupted by riffs of double-pedal (Jeff Mann on drums) and strummed chords on the bass (John Ferrara). Later on, we got to hear many more nuances of each musician’s arsenal, of which I will mention a Wooten-inspired bass solo that was as lyrical as it was percussive. I left thinking that for a fusion band, Consider the Source is probably a brilliant name, if you can stop bouncing around to their music and think about what is being mixed with what.
Adrian Boteanu is a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University. He can be reached at [email protected]