This Unknown Science

The lithe, crystalline soprano voice of Emma Beaton is the first thing that stands out when you listen to This Unknown Science, the second Signature Sounds release from the Boston-based quintet Joy Kills Sorrow. Then you notice a whole lot of crazy picking, plucking and bowing going on from the mandolin, guitar, banjo and contrabass accompaniment. When you realise the jazzy bluegrass tempos have set your fingers and heels madly tapping, you’re thoroughly immersed in a mellifluous blend of new acoustic chemistry from one of America’s most promising young string ensembles. All of them prodigies, Joy Kills Sorrow brings together Emma Beaton, a classically trained cellist who sings like she was born to do nothing else; bassist Bridget Kearney, a New England Conservatory of Music grad; guitarist Matthew Arcara, winner of the 2006 Winfield National Flatpicking prize; and two Berklee music scholars – mandolinist Jacob Jolliff and banjo player Wesley Corbett.

Two songs sum up the depth of the band’s songbook. ‘One More Night’ starts out in a twangy funk that settles into a newgrass swing tune, which morphs into an almost pop-country song, punctuated by banjo and guitar riffs trading in a syncopated shimmy. They slow down the pace, pull away the tautly wound strings and turn the proceedings over to Kearney’s spare, lumbering bass and Beaton’s deftly precise melancholic crooning to transport you ‘Somewhere Over the Atlantic,’ which might very well be a place where sorrow is subsumed by joy.