Kairos 131, August 2021

Slowly I'm moving into mid-summer of last year, with Kairos that is. At the time of the original broadcast I was enjoying the municipal campsite of Vers along the banks of the river Lot in south west France. Hiking through the countryside, visiting medieval villages and towns. Rain and sunshine. A little of both. And the magnificent Cahors wine of course. At the same time .No was presenting the world with this music. Let's move back in time a little and listen to what was and online still is, on offer.

The Kairos tune melts into a singer-songwriter setting. A piano, drums and a bass. A man starts whistling, after which a female voice takes over. It is an album that I passed by, I notice. Big Red Machine is a duo effort of The Nationalist's Aaron Dassner and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver). They have invited a host of singers to sing on the tunes on the album. The lead vocalist here is Anaïs Mitchell, who recently released a new solo album. She is known from reviews by Erwin Zijleman on this blog. Her rather high, a little shrill voice graces 'Latter Days'.

The drums stop and a drone, softly vibrating takes over, with another undefinable sound that keeps returning. Sounds like space ships descending come by. As if Absolute Elsewhere's masterpiece 'In Search Of Ancient Gods' needs a remake. The music is faintly comparable as well. If at some time a melody would come in that is. William Selman's 'Extention Of A future Model' keeps emulating spacecrafts leaving the landing bay, the lights on the side moving by faster and faster. Tibetan bells sound out and percussion sets in. A set of bongo's is played and a bottle is used as cymbal it seems. A higher sounding drone hovers in the background. I have no clue what to make of this composition. The rhythm is nice, true, but what more can I say? Nothing.

Seven minutes later a severely treated female voice comes in. Together with a violin, a few even. The second voice sounds mystical. A language? No, I opt for just sounds. It makes me think of Enya, that one album I have by the Irish singer. Except that this would be an Enya incarnation that would take the intake of some hallucinogenics, I'm afraid, to come into existence. The music comes from a totally different part of Europe, Estonia. Marja Nuut and Ruum return to Kairos. Music as if a fog has descended over the world. The instrumental ending is even more experimental. Musical parts come in like a failed transmission from another planet. I can't help seeing a Star Trek episode where the transmission hologram fades in and out.

The atmosphere changes totally to faint sounds and a thunderstorm. From Estonia to Iceland. Why not? îlafur Arnalds is present with two songs from his 'Dyad 1909' album. The second one is a gloomy affair with a beautiful violin part. It rises and falls, accompanied by a piano. It creates mysterious silences in between. I have heard music like this before but can't tell you what or where. For that it is too far from my daily forays into music.

A second song from the album '3/3' comes by. It is a compilation album. Holovr's 'Melancholy of Time (trilogy)' knows a sound as of dripping water, looped to give it some rhythm, and hiss. Over it a keyboard plays long held notes, that stop as abrupt as in the previous contribution, with the difference that Holovr has created different levels music, interplaying off each other. This includes the sound of a church organ as well. All together it is a rather tense affair. As if something is about to burst at the seams soon. Rest assured, it does not. It is extremely interesting.

We return to Iceland, as Low Roar is an American singer-songwriting living and working on the island. A staple on Kairos over the past years, his soft voice will sound familiar to those listening to the programme regularly, like I do. 'Once In A Long, Long While' is the title song of his album. The song is also not easy to digest immediately, as there are different layers woven over the fabric of the song. Not a single instrument has a straightforward role. The voice holds the main melody. I correct myself, the bass holds the fort, all other instruments fill up space in their own way. Adorning the composition, not supporting it. The result is once again a mysterious track.

The next song probably won the longest-title-of-the-year-on-Kairos award 2021. 'A Meaningful Moment Through a Meaning(less) Process' is long right? And why the brackets around less? Nevermind. Stars of the Lid also is present with a atmospheric composition where a piano plays a chord, while all sorts of noises move around it. There's not much more that I can make of it, I'm afraid. The piano chords are somewhat impressive though in the second half of  'A Meaningful Moment Through a Meaning(less) Process', so the song gets some meaning for me after all.

Another piano takes over. A chord progression with a lot of sustain filling my room like it will have filled the recording studio. It is Philip G. Anderson returning to Kairos. We have met him with three compositions last month. The sound is modest, yet big. Somehow it is all consuming me at present. I am hearing a composition after all. No hiss, no noises, nothing, Simply a piano.

A drone takes over and yes some other sounds accompanying it. Long-held notes of an organ. Jana Irmert was on last month as well. 'Of Air' gives the impression of a composition for a church organ. Although a piano and plucked violin are there as well and a fly buzzing around the ears of the organist, distracting him from his playing for some time. In the background a sound like a building activity approaches and leaves again.

A female voice comes in after the builders have left. There's so much echo on the voice that I can't make out what is being sung. It is almost as if I'm in a déjà vu. Wasn't Nava in Kairos last month as well?

She already gone. A male voice is reciting a text, slowly moving into singing, well almost. Something between singing and speaking. Think Leonard Cohen at his reunion tours and then some. It is Justin Sullivan. Behind him a fretless bass gives 'Sao Paolo' a jazzy tinge. The piano is different though. It follows the, faint, vocal melody. Finally there is a percussive sound of some sort. This is a really strange song. I can imagine Nick Cave doing 'Sao Paolo' in his own style easily. His latest work isn't even that far from Sullivan's but still miles apart.

A violin comes in after a second of silence. Or is it a keyboard anyway on second thought. A female voice comes over the song. A darker tint for a woman. I suppose it is Soho Rezazejad singing to Frederic Valentin's song 'Tears'. Again a far from easy contribution but intriguing, as Rezazejad has a nice voice to listen to.

Lyenn also returns to Kairos. His high voice hovering over the soft music. Within seconds I know who my favourite of the month is. 'Morning Sun' is a beautiful song. So melancholy, so sad, so after having given up hope. That slow piano is heavenly. Just a few notes are enough to enrapture. The bass, jazzy as in Justin Sullivan's composition, and drums, experimental as if this is not a slow, sad song, move around and do their own thing at the bottom end of 'Morning Sun'. Yes, it is a ballad, but so much more is happening. And this is only my first impression, because I have to move on already.

More music from Iceland comes in. An unpronounceable name and title. Hšgni, 'Enn N¾ða Or' it says in the tracklist. That did not deliver anything in Google. It turns out it can also be spelled as Högni Egilsson 'Enn næða orð'. (It is late January and I heard a fly sound in the music just before. Just now, I've stopped the music on Concertzender to have the time to google the name and song and there really is a big, fat fly trying to kill itself on my desk lamp. It's January, mid-winter!) He has been active in the Iceland band Gus Gus, I read as well. 'Enn næða orð' is a very slow and empty song. Grave and sober it travels forth. A male choir is mixed into Högni's song, responding to his Icelandic lyrics, call and response created just for this Kairos. What is what here? Somewhere in 'Enn næða orð' Marynka's 'Still' is mixed. This is more a modern classical tinkering on the piano, as I somewhat disrespectfully call the numerous piano composition albums that have been released over the last few years. There's no choir in sight on 'Still', so was it part of 'Enn næða orð' in any way? And where does the choir belong to? Questions, questions and no answers.

Wout de Natris 

You can listen to this Kairos here:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_621375/ 

 

This is this month's playlist:

00:00 – 00:16  Kairos Tune by Wino Penris.

00:11 – 03:50  Big red machine. Latter Days (Feat, Ana•s Mitchell).
Album ‘How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?’. 37d03d (PEOPLE).

03:12 – 10:32  William Selman. Extension Of The Feature Model.
Album ‘VA #3/3’ (various artists). Concentric Records.

09:44 – 14:52  Maarja Nuut & Ruum. Mahe. Album ‘Muunduja’. 130701.

14:11 – 15:58  îlafur Arnalds. Fr‡ Upphafi. Album ‘Dyad 1909’. Erased Tapes Records.

15:58 – 19:52  îlafur Arnalds. Lokaðu Augunum (Dyad 1909 Version).
Erased Tapes Records.

19:37 – 25:52  Holovr. Melancholy of Time (trilogy).
Album ‘VA #3/3’ (various artists). Concentric Records.

25:12 – 30:29  Low Roar. Once in a long, long while.
Album ‘Once in a long, long while’. Nevado Records.

30:11 – 34:44  Stars of the Lid. A Meaningful Moment Through a Meaning(less) Process. Album ‘And Their Refinement of the Decline’. Kranky.

34:24 – 37:39  Philip G Anderson. Questions. Album ‘Figment’. Self-released. 

37:06 – 41:14  Jana Irmert. Of Air. Album ‘The Soft Bit’. Fabrique Records.

40:55 – 42:29  Nava. Sleepless outro. Album ‘Bloom’. Oyez! Srl.

42:05 – 46:43  Justin Sullivan. Sao Paulo. Album ‘Surrounded’. V2 Records.

46:29 – 48:58  Frederik Valentin. Tears (ft. Soho Rezazejad) (fragment).
Album ‘0011001 & 0011000’. Posh Isolation.

48:19 – 48:51  Lyenn. Morning Sun (fragment).
Album ‘Adrift’. Near Gale Records – WasteMyRecords.

48:44 – 53:36  Lyenn. Morning Sun.
Album ‘Adrift’. Near Gale Records – WasteMyRecords.

53:20 – 57:56  Hšgni. Enn N¾ða Orð.
Album ‘Two Trains’. Erased Tapes Records eratp103.

54:10 – 54:22  Marynka. Still. (fragment) Album ‘Red Moon’. Orphono Records.

57:44 – 59:57  Marynka. Still. (partial) Album ‘Red Moon’. Orphono Records.