"They are fantastic!" Tommy Emmanuel

German guitarists Stephan Bormann and Thomas Fellow prove that a total, even of one plus one, can be vastly greater than its sum. Their playing on Offroad sounds unlike a duo of guitarists. Instead, they develop an orchestral effect throughout a CD that possesses the characteristics of harmonic back-up, rhythmic support, melodic lead, atmospheric suggestions and the rapport of interactive alternating of thematic passages...
Bormann and Fellow display their fearless virtuosity on Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango,” lunging into the song’s spirited emotionalism with all the vitality of a group at least three times its size. Similarly, on “Zulu,” they suggestively set up anticipation of a memorable performance with the introduction of snapped accents, forceful syncopation and Fellow’s tasteful but propulsive back-up. “Midnight Train,” cinematic in its quiet moodiness, rises from a pianissimo non-metered beginning, pensive and calm, to an end of the chorus of large increases in volume as quietude evolves into dramatically chiming conclusion...
Bormann and Fellow have produced a carefully conceived and experted executed recording that revels in the atmospheric potential of the sound of but two guitars—which assume the roles of many more instruments.
Don Williamson, Jazzreview

Methenyesque strum against an understated spiritual anthem -- one hears yearning versus melancholy, aspiration versus contentment... yin and yang coexisting. ...all on which Bormann and Fellow do a cadenced mind-meld in a universe where the rest of us are challenged even to tap our feet. "Hands on Strings" bids you a welcome to the world of very amazing jazz.
Alan Fark, Minor7th

...mostly upbeat, happy music and but the slower numbers have loads of atmosphere. The playing by these guys is exceptionally fine and I recommend anyone learning to play the guitar to hear this album to see just what is possible. While Hands On Strings have composed half of the eleven tracks, the rest are composed by South Americans, including the great Argentinian tango master Astor Piazolla. If you've bought albums by the lat lamented Acoustic Alchemy then I really think you will find Hands On Strings very much to your taste - this is a very pleasant, relaxing and invigorating album to enjoy.
John M. Peters, The Borderland

Oh, oh, that "Loro" by Egberto Gismonti - bet nobody else can do it like these guys do. And then this beautifully pensive "Isola misteriosa" by Gianni Ferrio, still using Fellow's extremely tasty ingredients, Bonfa's "Manha da carnaval", which strangely enough never gets boring even though it's played in ultra-slow modus here, and last but not least Piazolla's "Libertango"… and all the other delicacies - a fine little feast... This is a playground on which these two can finally sport through the entire range of their abilities - a clever, refined mix, suspenseful through and through.
Alexander Schmitz, Jazzpodium 04/06

A duo of captivating musicality and a huge fun factor.
Roland Spiegel, Bayern 4 Klassik

It is quite rare that two musicians listen to each other so well that they achieve a truly harmonic blend of sound. Especially when each of them is so distinguished. We'll have to use a rather overused expression here - simply because it is seldom so fitting: they have the right chemistry. Thank God that this isn't hit parade material, and that something as beautiful as this exists.
Alfons Marian, Teleschau

…It's like Bormann and Fellow wanted to pick up where Kolbe & Illenberger left off…wonderfully intermeshed lines playing against and off of each other with layers of sound, giving listeners room to dream themselves into a fantastic landscape. Much clearer and more structured than their debut album released several years ago, Hands On Strings conjures up a competent mixture of high-class world music in their self-penned songs. And the listener bathes in timelessness and perfect beauty.
Michael Lohr Akustik Gitarre 2/06

It's a whole little universe you discover when listening to these eleven songs for the first time, one that couldn't be more entertaining and suspenseful.
musicoutlook

too jazzy to be “World Music”. It’s too much in love with melody to be Jazz. It’s too atmospheric to be instrumental pop. And finally, it is much too varied to be pure acoustic guitar music.
tokafi

A jazz guitarist and an acoustic perpetuum mobile, with Christin Class (vocals) and Volker Schlott (sax) as „offroad“ guests, take a multi-faceted virtuoso journey that leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. Whether powerful or fiery, sensual or subtle, their playing and arrangements are always intensive, fresh, alive, full of surprises and passion..
Folker 3/06