Borderless Flows
Neuma, 2024
8/10
The global sextet Pan Project return with 6 pieces that explore their multi-cultural ways with both improvisation and experimental bursts.
“The Naked: call” leads with Jessika Kenney’s flowing vocals amid Ned Rothenberg’s precise shakuhachi and bass clarinet via the powerful climate, and “Oshi Dhora (He Came)” follows with Saeyeon Jeong’s expressive pipes and Woonjung Sim’s playful percussive techniques exploring the worldly dynamics.
In the middle, “The Naked: question” offers a bare moment of breathy vocals and mysterious winds, while “(Borderless Flows)” recruits Jeff Roberts’ guqin, Deepak Paramashivan’s Sarangi and Afarin Nazarijou’s qanun that populate the field recordings and found objects-ish tinkering.
Near the end, “The Naked: night” spends 11+ minutes mesmerizing us with its quivering ideas, Kenney’s varying vocals and nearly sci-fi gestures, and “Shui Jiezou (Water Rhythm)” exits with Roberts’ guqin, electronics, found objects, gamin and saenghwang making for an artistic and colorful finish.
A record that rewrites the idea of ‘world music’, this is a sensitive, avant-garde and enlightening journey that can be enjoyed repeatedly.
Travels well with: Ken Field- The Canopy; Lina Bahn- Axolotl