Mote Magazine

"Hailing from Vancouver, Zubot and Dawson are an acoustic duo (! -- guitars, fiddle, and mandolin between the two of them) specializing in a style of music they invented and dubbed "Strang." Drawing heavily from bluegrass and traditional folk, the pair manages to fuse in some jazz, blues, electronic beats, tuba solos, spoken word, and whatever else seemed to be at their disposal. Not that the effort comes out sounding strained. What results is a highly polished interplay between 2 musicians (with other accompaniment of course), trading kinetic, catchy melodic licks. This is really where the pair excels -- making songs that, for all their complexity, come out sounding like an effortless conversation (sometimes argument) between musicians completely in tune. In keeping with the bluegrass feel, it's a fairly uptempo disc, but the melody takes precedence and most of these tunes take their time in finding little moments.
Some truly amazing fingerstyle guitar and bluegrass / jazz fiddling to be found here -- "The Nibbler" finds the pair pitching up and down scales at speeds to be envied by any speedmetalhead. "Jobsite" manages to astound with its bizarre combo of guitar/mandolin/tuba/ electronica, which comes out sounding strangely authentic. It's these strange little experiments (like the funk that breaks through the bluegrass of "The Snaggering Dragon") that give the album an edge that might otherwise be missing on a cd that seems perfect for the CKUA office listening crowd. A great CD to introduce an older traditional audience to what's been going on in music over the past few decades."
- BlackPig