The Liquified Throne Of Simplicity

Description

The Slovenian trio of imaginary folk returns with an epic album that echoes the collective spirit of Don Cherry's Organic Music Society or the Art Ensemble of Chicago. A crossroads of Central Europe, the Balkans, and the Adriatic, Slovenia has a rich topography, with mountains, forests, and karst landscapes that inspire a desire for escape and creativity. Drawing from this geography of contemplation and psychic energy, the Slovenian trio composed of Iztok Koren, Ana Kravanja, and Samo Kutin has created an intuitively transcendent album with The Liquified Throne of Simplicity. This fourth album follows I (Radio Študent, 2016), then I Can Be A Clay Snapper (tak:til, 2017) and A Universe That Roast Blossoms For A Horse (tak:til, 2019). On this new album, Širom incorporates certain aspects of previous albums while expanding its spectrum of obscure sounds and eclectic instruments. For the first time, the trio allows for longer and more developed, hypnotic and enchanting journeys. This new approach results in 80 minutes of rustic folklore that straddles dream-reality and cathartic ritual. It evokes Jon Hassell's Fourth World, visions of Samarkand, the esoteric mysteries of Tibet, an unplugged version of Faust, and the pastoral and medieval charm of the hurdy-gurdy. The cover and interior illustrations, gently surreal, are created by painter Marko Jakše. His magical landscapes and characters beautifully illustrate the fantastic and symbolic music of the group. The Liquified Throne of Simplicity offers us a portal to other worlds, an escape from the ongoing pandemic and its demoralizing and exhausting effects, as well as the crisis it has triggered in Slovenia. Even though the winter has been long and dreary, the lockdown gave the trio time to create and learn. It brought them inner peace and gave them purpose. Another important motivation was the research and study of exotic instruments, the repurposing and assembling of found objects to produce new sounds. Among the added instruments are the tempura brac, a kind of shortened mandolin/guitar from the Balkans, the daf, a Middle Eastern drum, as well as the ocarina, lute, and guembri (an emblematic instrument of spiritual Gnawa music in Morocco). All this adds to the playing of the hurdy-gurdy and lyre, viola, three-string banjo, balafon, ribab, and mizmar. From the epic and primitive fantasy of the tubular bells, the strings of the Gnawa, and the violin of the opening track "Wilted Superstition Engaged in Copulation," to the almost Eastern drama, in the spirit of an acoustic Swans in "A Bluish Flickering," the various tunings, polyrhythms, and varied textures tell an epic that probes unexplored musical worlds. Širom has once again birthed a highly magical album.