(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Swiss combo Ikarus, formed by drummer and composer Ramon Oliveras
(also the drummer of trio Punkt3),
with vocalists Anna Hirsch and Andreas Lareida, pianist Lucca Fries and
bassist Mo Meyer,
was inspired by both prog-rock of the 1970s and Arvo Part's classical minimalism
on Echo (2015), for example
Sanctuary and
Locrya. Harder to classify are the
surrealistic eight-minute piano lieder Hotaru and
City of Glass.
Wordless singing is just another instrument.
The compositions are more sophisticated, and the interplay is more subtle, on
Chronosome (2016).
The Brazilian dance of Caliph becomes a musical bacchanal.
Obscura is another danceable oddity, but this time it decays into lyrical nonsense.
The spectral post-jazz soundscape of Holocene has an impressionistic
quality.
Ontake could be the soundtrack for a film noir because of the unnerving piano riff if it weren't for the cheerful wordless singing/chirping.
The music gets increasingly harder to define on
Mosaismic (2019). The
feverish piano pulsation of Meridian and the
ethereal wordless lullaby Saiko lead to
cryptic atmospheres via an almost invisible process of counterpoint and superimposition.
A sense of mystery envelops the languid elegy Ikenophobia.
Plasma (2022) is a better organized and more consistent effort.
Tritium (7:47) weds African chant and polyrhythm with minimalist piano.
Sessapinae (9:57) hovers in between jazz, samba and minimalism with
an endless parade of nuances and even psychedelic overtones (possibly the artistic peak of their career).
Unfortunately the other three lengthy pieces don't amount to much.
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