Filiseti Mekidesi
Infrequent Seams, 2020
9/10
A longtime leader of the experimental New York scene who has released over 80 records of just about every genre you can think of, and a few you’ve never heard of, Elliott Sharp brings us a 2 disc opera of varied and thriving sounds that were recorded live in concert at Ruhrtriennale in Bochum, Germany on September 2018.
“Cosmic Gifts” starts the listen with much atmosphere as a dark, cinematic, nearly sci-fi quality inhabits the 7 minute opener, and this unique formula continues to the percussively strong and chilling strings of “Humans Move”.
Further on in Disc 1, “Filiseti Music I” offers bright flute from Helen Bledsoe and a flurry of brass that radiates a hypnotic quality, while “Under The Thicket” benefits from expressive and eloquent soprano singing amid a warm climate of classical sounds. “In Liquid State” exits this portion of the record with a dreamy, stirring display of avant-garde, classical ideas that you’re not going to hear anywhere else.
The 2nd disc leads with the operatic approach of “Tempest”, that quivers with both beauty and mystery, and “Time To Go”, a 2nd disc highlight, finds itself rumbling lowly as many voices converge for a soaring, ambient experience.
Further on, “The Thing You Want” is a vocally heavy, though often wordless, execution as tense instrumentation soundtracks a very textured climate, and “Endless Migration” exits the listen with a blurry, cautious and inventive finish that puts a firm exclamation point on a very unusual, captivating adventure.
Like everything that Sharp has been behind, this is an unclassifiable, absorbing listen that allows Kamilya Jubran and the vocal group Voxnova Italia’s pipes to shine, while also allowing the instrumental ensemble Musikfabrik to mesmerize. Certainly atypical, there just isn’t a moment here wasted, and you’ll likely want to revisit every one of them.
Travels well with: Ty Citerman- Bop Kabbalah + Voices: When You Speak Of Times To Come; The Nels Cline Singers- Share The Wealth