Bond
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Members: Elspeth Hanson, Eos Chater, Gay-Yee Westerhoff, Tania Davis
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Nationality: UK/Australia
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Years active: 2000-present
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Category: String Quartet – two violins (Hanson & Chater), viola (David), cello (Westerhoff)
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Studio Albums: 3
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Record Sales: 4 million
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Record Label: Decca
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Biggest Markets: UK, United States, Australia, Japan
ARTIST OVERALL RATINGS
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DESCRIPTION
Bond is the most successful string quartet of all time and has spawned many similar acts that try to emulate their success. Only Escala have shown some potential to sell as many records as Bond, but they did little else other than copy Bond's image, style and material. Bond arrived in 2001 near the beginning of the classical crossover movement. Their quartet included Haylie Ecker, but she left the group in 2008 (despite the group not being active for four years). Bond recently re-launched themselves with replacement violinist Elspeth Hanson after having been commissioned by Peugeot to record Vivaldi's Four Seasons. They were obviously influenced by Vanessa-Mae, but the girls have proved themselves to be their own pioneers, composing their own pieces and completely reinventing anything they do cover. Their handy work on their stringed instruments is sometimes difficult to hear as they often overproduce their music, and the techno beats can drown out their playing. Bond very rarely play any piece of music straight, preferring to keep the dance influence in their music. If you like Vanessa-Mae's earlier work, you may like Bond. If drum machines rub you up the wrong way, you should definitely avoid this quartet and try Raven or a more commercially available David Garrett.
YOU'LL LIKE BOND IF YOU LIKE...
Vanessa-Mae
Escala
Fuse
Diana Yukawa