Landon Kuhlmann for DAYTROTTER – Before you Google it, that instrument is a hammered dulcimer. It’s an old instrument that has roots in a few different cultures, and many different versions of it exist. It’s probably something you’ve heard before but didn’t know where it was coming from. I’ve seen it played a couple of times but never in a setting like this. I’m no expert on the instrument, but it seems here to be a meshing of classical and contemporary playing styles, an idea that helps define the entire band.
I want to start off by saying House of Waters is the fusing of three incredibly intelligent and skilled musicians. That much is obvious to even the casual listener. You don’t have to understand the complex things they’re doing in the music to simply enjoy the sounds, the melodies and moods House of Waters passes through in their music.
Is it jazz? Is it some kind of folk music? Am I, somehow and unbeknownst to me, listening to a form of rock music? These questions, and that grasping for definitions, is useless with this band. Their genre can only be described by other words like fresh, calm, serene, and bliss. Hearing something this new to me feels like I’m hearing music for the first time all over again.