Eight Poems On Drought

Description

Originally, Abhra — which, in Sanskrit, refers both to the atmosphere and to emptiness — explored the Journal of Henry David Thoreau, the American philosopher, poet, and scholar who placed nature at the center of his thought, in praise of a certain hedonistic asceticism. Since then, this thought has continued to run through Abhra’s music, which questions resonance, the forms of song, slowness, in the most delicate restraint. In 2022 came Seven Poems on Water, the group’s second album, acclaimed by critics. It was as a witness to climate disruption, notably through the eyes of his brother, a researcher in one of the driest regions of France, that Julien Pontvianne wanted to follow up Seven Poems on water with a new album devoted to drought. To understand water, one must not think in terms of deposits, like oil, but of cycles. It is not resources that are running out, but cycles that are being disrupted. Deforestation, for example, disrupts a cycle and reduces rainfall. Global warming, by increasing evaporation, increases the amount of water. The problem is its distribution. Unfair, violent. Arid areas will always receive less, leading to the decline of agricultural productivity, and ever more conflict...