Long time Secret Chief and ubiquitous all star Eyvind Kang has released a new “solo” album. I approached it with trepidation, expecting long violin solos. What I did not expect was a middle-eastern tinged, medieval / baroque thing of immense quality. Secret Chiefs 3 fans will be well acquainted enough with “weird stuff” to be able to cope with the shifts in style. God knows what someone who listens to Adele would make of this but I’d like to find out. Forcibly.
An album that has sweet riffs (albeit played on instruments I cant even name) and angelic female vocals that suddenly give way to dissonance and string ensemble drones should be easily classified as “heavy listening”, but there is a narrative quality that runs through the album that makes for a magical chiaroscuro effect (look it up bitches).
Best listened to in a sun-dappled glade with a fair maiden (or knave or whatever the male equivalent of a maiden is) on one arm and a goblet of mead in the other. Oh and if the makers of Assassin’s Creed are reading this (I know you are) this would be an AMAZING soundtrack to any future sequels.
Kim Monaghan
