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Naim Label


Related Reviews

HiFi Choice
4 Stars
"music sometimes has an almost dream-like, filmic quality"
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Vibes4YourSoul
"ambient and downtempo, poetic melodies ...undoubtedly delight most fans"
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Jazzwise
4 Stars
"lush, orchestral samples, languid grooves and a sophisticated facility for channelling the chill...spiritual jazz masterpiece"
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Virgin Music
“the album is able to hold its own throughout due to Stuart McCallum altering the initial sounds and warping them into something that isn’t totally unrecognisable. Fans of The Cinematic Orchestra will appreciate the familiar yet ever so differing territory.”
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All Gigs
4 Stars
“it's beautifully-crafted minor-key instrumental sadness with occasional joy and frequent surprises.”
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AAA Music
“This record is a stunning, self assured work that showcases someone who has mastered their trade and is completely comfortable with his style.”
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Vanguard Music
“Sometimes it is a loud electric-edged tone, occasionally a bubbling Grant Green tone on jazzier numbers but Stuart seems adept at switching between the two”
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Disconnected
“This carefully filtered collection of ten recordings is a perfect example of how McCallum has refined his music and like a great Scotch proves that in the hands of an artist the perfect blend is one ‘Distilled’.”
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Time Out
"dusting gritty club grooves with his own epic brand of folk-edged melancholy"
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The Guardian
3 Stars
"Acoustic-guitar meditations turn slowly into tranquil funk"
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Music OMH
3½ Stars
“an intoxicating shot of spirit, but it's also highly refined and filtered. Those with a penchant for more idiosyncratic overtones may be left wanting, but this album nonetheless does a sterling job of encapsulating the cutting edge of the UK Jazz scene”
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BBC.co.uk
"Phrases resound with a shimmering vibration, underscored by sympathetic arrangements."
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Record Collector
4 Stars
"Mood music of a more hypnotic and ruminative hue can be found on the lovely album Distilled"
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UNCUT Magazine
“Distilled – dreamy, trippy, downtempo instrumentals...the lush semi-orchestral settings”
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BBC Music Magazine
4 Stars
"A yearning atmosphere of improvised guitar...worth investing time in"
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All About Jazz
"The Manchester-based guitarist/composer knows how to combine established and contemporary sounds, making them into music that is never less than fascinating and, at its best, a thing of breathtaking beauty."
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Stuart McCallum in Manchester Evening News


09 August 2011
Manchester Evening News
4 Stars

Distilled is less Grant Green and more Ennio Morricone. Which is to say, computer-aided explorations have driven guitarist Stuart McCallum ever further from the jazz mainstream. Hillcrest may use the chords of a standard tune to create a fresh work, in the jazz manner, but the standard in question is Wonderwall by Oasis, and its sumptuous bittersweet melody is delivered with a cinematic sweep. It typifies the method of Distilled: goosebump-inducing beauty evoked in a sustained mood of epic grandeur. This is very big music indeed, and has more in common with U2 and Chemical Brothers than George Benson. A very impressive self-invention.
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