Bloom

Description

For her first ECM album, vocal improviser, folk singer, storyteller and pianist Areni Agbabian brings the full range of her musical skills to bear in music of spaciousness and ethereal charm, in which voice, piano and the subtle percussion of Nicolas Stocker (last heard on ECM in Nik Bärtsch’s Mobile ensemble) continually move toward silence. Agbabian first drew the attention of an international audience in Tigran Hamasyan’s groups. Born in California, she draws her references from the deepest part of her Armenian heritage, offering fresh and singular interpretations of sacred hymns, traditional tales, and folk melodies transcribed by Komitas, interweaving these elements with her own compositions of great evocative power.