Search - Eyvind Kang, Joshua Kohl, Aldo Sisillo :: Eyvind Kang: The Yelm Sessions

Not Kang's best, but still...

bimwa | Australia | 01/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I first heard Eyvind Kang's Tzadik debut 7 NADEs I was absolutely blown away by the ideas this guy was coming up with - through this album as well as the following two, Theatre Of Mineral NADEs and The Story Of Iceland, he seemed to be distilling the history of various strands of classical, world, avant garde, and rock musics into a brand new beast. Obviously there are some familiar elements, but at the same time there is always something totally fresh and new about it.



Kang continued to amaze me with the more quiet and atmospheric Virginal Coordinates, and the darker, vocally-driven Athlantis. He was exploring similar territory but there was always a fresh approach, whether it was through the hypnotic minimalism of The Story Of Iceland or the "oratorio" vibe of Athlantis.



Enter the new Tzadik album, The Yelm Sessions. A great selection of pieces, which, judging from the liner notes, features a bit of a mish-mash of recording sessions and approaches. For example on the opening track 'The Clown's Song' Kang layers all violin, viola and cello parts himself, while 'Asa Tru' features the Orchestra Del Teatro Communale Di Bologna with violin soloist Kala Ramnath. Both of these tracks surprisingly create a similarly beautiful wash of strings.



As previously stated this is a great selection of pieces, and if I have one small criticism it's that it doesn't necessarily sound like an "album". It also seems that for the first time I can recall, Kang is noticeably repeating himself. 'Hawks Prairie' echoes parts of The Story Of Iceland, with its sporadic discordant horn stabs layered over an ominous drone. And 'Asa Tru' is quite reminiscent of 'Sweetness Of Candy' from that album, which also features violinist Kala Ramnath. There are also melodic fragments and other bits and pieces which hark back to Kang's earlier work.



In effect, it seems that Kang is kind of "treading water", and this album could almost be seen as something of a "best of". Though I don't think it would be a great introduction to his work - I would imagine anyone interested in this kind of music would be better served by hearing something more challenging like 7 NADEs or The Story Of Iceland first (or Virginal Coordinates for the more mellow listener).



I don't want to give too negative an impression here, this album is certainly full of beautiful music, and there are some highly original pieces here, including 'Enter The Garden', probably one of the most light and playful tunes Kang has done, driven by Jessika Kenney's exotic vocal line; and 'The Yelm Sessions', something of a prog-rock epic in under 3 minutes, featuring analog synths, layered horns and huge drum fills.



I'd probably give this album 4.5 actually, but feel I'd be doing it a disservice to round it down rather than up. Kang is still one of the most interesting musicians around, and even when he treads water the results are brilliant."