Discovering new music is one of life’s great joys, and in my opinion, particularly when you hear something as interesting as Organic Noises. The group has been formed in Poland by young musicians, students and graduates of various jazz and classical music academies. Between them, they have won many notable achievements and awards, too many to name here, but a full list is available on their website.
Their music is a creative combination of eastern European and Armenian traditional themes, blended with jazz, fusion, rock and progressive ideas. A clash, if you will, of ethnic music, progressive rock and jazz improvisation, a heady mix that draws you into this wonderful musical world, all played with great skill and precision.
The album clocks in at forty-nine minutes, containing eight tracks, from the intro and outro at just over a minute each, to the longest at nine and a half minutes. The length of the tracks works well, giving them the room to expand and explore their unique musical palette.
The range of instruments is very interesting, from the usual guitar, bass, drums and keyboards through to an array of traditional instruments, including duduk, zurna, shvi and a didgeridoo, most of which I was not aware of and had to take to the Internet to find out more. The duduk, for example, is an ancient Armenian double-reed instrument, which in the modern era is made from apricot tree wood. These instruments add to the texture and overall sound and feel of the songs in a very positive way, increasing the interest and enjoyment levels.
The album begins with Intro, one of the two shorter tracks, setting the mood and tone with a gentle opening and moving straight into Yarkhustra. Here they up the tempo, but then it settles into a great wholesome catchy groove, again demonstrating what this band does so well throughout the album. The mix of rock, jazzy influences and the traditional sounds is seamless and thoroughly engaging.
Erghen Diado showcases this mix of influences well, a gentle start from piano, shortly afterwards the pace gets a little heavier, a driving bass with lighter drum accompaniment pushes the song along, the piano then morphing into a wonderful jazzy solo. Die Yarmen has a very atmospheric opening using the traditional instruments, this song contains some beautiful vocals full of emotion and feeling.
The longest track, Pozic Mamo Roz, is a mini-epic of everything this band do well, a much more up-front approach with a pounding rhythm section which easily shifts into more delicate touches to accompany the other instruments. There is some great violin here over the rhythm section, the piano taking over briefly before a traditional instrument takes over accompanied by didgeridoo. To take the song to its conclusion the violin makes a revival along with some interesting vocals to provide a varied and engaging track.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable album, full of ideas, played with great skill, truly a band that is enjoying creating their music, and this translates into what they have presented here. A release that I have engaged with and have played numerous times, for this review but also for the pure enjoyment of it.
TRACK LISTING
01. Intro (1:46)
02. Yarkhustra (7:39)
03. Hoondz (8:04)
04. Pozic Mamo Roz (9:30)
05. Erghen Diado (6:02)
06. Die Yarman (6:34)
07. Lorik (8:22)
08. Outro (1:20)
Total Time – 49:20
MUSICIANS
Zofia Trystuła-Hovhannisyan – Duduk, Oboe, Zurna, Shvi, Vocals
Joanna Chudyba – Violin, Electric Violin
Karolina Wiercioch – Keyboards
Robert Wiercioch – Guitar, Saz
Marcin Chatys – Bass, Double Bass, Moog
Jan Rusin – Drums, Percussion
~ With:
Susanna Jara – Vocal (track 4)
Roksanna Sadowska – Vocal (track 5)
Iwona Karez – Vocal (track 5)
Pawel Chlastawa – Didgeridoo (track 4)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Lynx Music
Country of Origin: Poland
Date of Release: 28th July 2019
LINKS
Organic Noises – Website | Facebook | Soundcloud | Bandcamp