Aah! The Med. Given the title I assumed it would be something to accompany the clink as the neck of the first Amstel of the Summer comes to rest on the top of a frozen glass while the sea riffles the pebbles, in and out. But no! This is not an album of Ibiza Chillout. Instead we have a deeper dive into the music traditions of those communities that surround the sea, mainly Arabic. Led by Vretos on oud and more than ably supported by, especially, Verdinoglou on piano. It’s rich in melody and mood, with the four instruments revelling in the space available. The distinctive voice of the oud is wrapped in the other instruments, often singly, but occasionally all together to create brief dramatic moments. Much of the mood is melancholic with either the clarinet or viola providing the groundwork for Vretos’ light fingered single note explorations.
The centrepiece of the
album is the three part Freedom Suite, which
opens with a simple piano motif on Lullaby
which is in turn supported by the strings before Vretos advances a series
of short phrases as a counter melody. The
Quest is weightier, with a prophecy of bad times ahead, there is sadness
and the oud acts like a Greek chorus, lowering the mood, wrapped up in clarinet
and viola. Dance of Freedom is, as
its title suggests, more celebratory. Whatever the quest was, foes are
vanquished and it’s time for, at first, the most restrained celebration as the
oud and the deeper voiced strings carry the tune. Joy keeps escaping, though
not it must be said, very far.
The whole album is beautiful and elegant and the interplay between the instruments is first class. The lack of drums or percussion gives it an ethereal weightlessness that leads the listener into the melodies, it’s immersive music that you fall into. This ethereal quality does, however, make it difficult to capture the essence of this music, trying to capture that essence is like dancing about smoke. Much of the time the oud dominates as the other instruments are placed lower in the mix, often only providing minimal support. An interesting curio. Dave Sayer
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