Miltos Boumis, Demi GarcÃa Sabat, Holly Reinhardt - Echoes of a Journey (Self Release) [World Music]
- The Slow Music Movement
- 1 minute ago
- 2 min read
Miltos Boumis is a force for Aegean musical good. You don't find many laouto (long-necked fretted Cretan lute) players around these days, especially ones that can also drum and sing, but he's spreading the ancient instrument's word around London by bringing his ancient instrument into various contemporary settings across various genres, both live and in the studio. He's also a founding member of a couple of Cretan music ensembles, an experimental rock band in Greece and now leading this accomplished trio consisting of Holly Reinhardt on double bass and Demi Garcia SÃ bat
on percussion.
Although the music on the album is of a traditional folkloric nature, it actually has its roots in contemporary dance and a performance created with dance artist Yanaëlle Ritter. By dint of the music's history, there was obviously some compositional thought that went into the arrangements prior to the trio entering the studio, but the premise was improvisatory and fluidity exploring, and it sounds like a variously contemplative, intense and respect cementing session.
The music is a series of echoes and starts with"Unfolding" - the quiet, minimal strains gradually building some rhythmic structure and a fuller sound in the second half - a form replicated across the album's six tracks, and boy is it transportative; close your eyes and without moving, you're in dustier, sun-baked lands several hours to the East. "Lizard" also increases the intensity in its second half, the track eventually scurrying across warm rocks in pursuit of it's prey. "In the Moment" is a real rollercoaster - quiet meditations and shimmering breakdowns interspersing the more intense passages, before "Allegro" lulls you into a false sense of security with its gentle nature, then suddenly springs into peak-time folk-dance music. Exhausted, the trio then trudge wearily, yet stoically through, "The Daily Grind" before rounding off this fine album with the psychedelic, post-(folk)rock strains of "Until They Break", which drags their age-old instruments and traditional roots sound into the new millennium, and possibly beyond.
Playlist Companion
Find the trio in the Slow World Playlist.