Maarja Nuut: Une Meeles, In The Hold Of A Dream (Estonia)
A lazy person might describe young Nuut as the Bjork of
Eastern Europe, since her highly individual fiddle playing and singing
certainly reminds of the Icelander’s quirky style. But she is her own unique
uncompromising composer, musician and voice, using traditional elements but
also pushing things to their limits and subtly using loops and other
augmentation to deliver widely varying, sometimes challenging, but always deeply
satisfying pieces.
Julie Murphy: Every Bird That Flies (Wales)
The latest solo album from Julie Murphy, lodged in
deepest Wales, is as immaculate and beautifully contemplative as all its
predecessors; just her and a piano with the subtlest of occasional extra
accompaniment. The musical and vocal delivery (all in English here as opposed
to the Welsh she often uses with band Fernhill) is stripped back to only what
is absolutely needed, every word and note counts, and the entirety feels like the
most quietly insightful of poetry. Inclusion of lines from Emily Dickinson in
one piece is simply at one with the whole. Julie also believes in keeping
things local and comprehensively shuns the corporate approach; the album is
only available from her directly via bandcamp, is adorned by a photo of one of
her own elegant sculptures, and she was kind enough to sign my own copy when
asked.
Nyn: Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis
(Greece)
Nyn means Now, and this stirring album pulls no punches
in capturing the current desperate state of affairs in Greece in pulsating
manner. Kristi and Stathis make extensive use of both synthesisers and traditional
instruments and have a track record of making compelling music that arguably
reaches a new height here. Although sung in Greek the entire lyrics and some
additional context on Greece’s dire plight are included in English in a
booklet that is essential powerful reading.
Vesevo: Vesevo (Italy)
The psychology of living right next to a large active
volcano is obviously tricky, but something Neopolitans seem to have managed
down the years with a certain panache. This seems to infuse local music and
song, along with strong socialist principles that continue to be driven by the
parlous state of parts of the city and the disadvantaged of Naples. Back in
2000 the superb but fleeting outfit Spaccanapoli produced the landmark album
Lost Souls that seemed to come from nowhere and capture the essence of the city
with a possibly never-to-be-bettered perfection. Now, two musicians from that
band combine with a third into the new Vesevo (Vesuvius), which stunningly showcases
the music of Calabria, to the south of the city. With hand drums, fiddle,
keyboards, guitar and emotional soaring vocals, it’s evocative, addictive and
rather intoxicating.
Geomungo Factory: Imago (South Korea)
Let’s see now, this cost a cool £22, took two and half
months to arrive from South Korea, and plays for a mere 30 minutes, was it
really worth it? The geomungo is a zither-like traditional Korean stringed
instrument with a rather percussive sound, which seems to lend itself to
vigorous and innovative playing, witness a bunch of young ground-breaking South
Korean bands currently taking it to very new places. Geomungo Factory are
prominent amongst these, and made a big impact with their first album
Metamorphosis (currently virtually unobtainable in the west) and a brief visit
to London in 2013. Fortunately a second album has now appeared that I was able
to get via the essential Far Side website (www.farsidemusic.com gateway to all musical things Far
Eastern), and am delighted to report it is superb. There’s some mad, bad
composition and playing here that absolutely stops you in your tracks! Given
Metamorphosis was also apparently short it does however seem a missed
opportunity that they didn’t release the two albums on one CD at a sensible
price, then they really would have a world beater. Note there are other
ground-breaking geomungo bands and albums out there, I also have the longer and
more affordable Mask Dance by outfit Black String (smartly released in Europe
via a German label) which although superbly deranged still doesn’t quite hit the dizzy heights
of Imago for me.
Kate Tempest: Let Them Eat Chaos (England)
Has anyone got a more appropriate surname right now than
Kate? She’s not a singer, she’s not a musician, but some refer to her as a
performance poet (though she’s also a prose author). On this album though,
she’s simply and appropriately a force of nature. Let Them Eat Chaos is a book
length poem that is a stunning read in published form, describing the variously
messed up lives of seven Londoners as a vehicle for nailing where our society
is right now, before delivering an environmental coup de grace that nature is
all too likely to do for real. But the piece is designed to be read aloud and
this album is that reading (and rapping), to often powerfully effective musical
accompaniment. The result is astonishing and vital; it tells us all exactly
where we are right now and what we need to understand before we can even begin to
get out of the huge hole we’ve dug for ourselves. This is not background music,
this is the main event that demands you pay attention, and the most essential listen of the last year, and
today.
