Talvekoidik

"silent reflections" (Album, 2007) !DSO Recommended!

Anyone familiar with the German Hands Productions label should check this out. Anyone not familiar with the German Hands label should also check this out. In fact, just about anyone, period, should check this out. It is definitely one of the most remarkable debuts I've ever heard.

There is an actual connection to the Hands label in that Talvekoidik (an Estonian word meaning a foggy, winter-like atmosphere) is the project name for German musician Kai, founder member of S.K.E.T. - who are signed to Hands. Talvekoidik is a well-chosen name as it conveys the tangible influence the Baltic landscape has had on Kai's composing, presented here as a brilliant and original instrumental electronica fusion of Celtic, Scandinavian, Arabic and African musical traditions. Kai himself describes his music as an artistic attempt to illustrate the point where, as he puts it: "Stones hit the water while falling into it, where the wind blows on the fields and bends the stems." An 'attempt' it may have been, but it is an entirely successful one.

Featuring additional remixes by Heimstatt Yipotash, Fragment King and 16pad noiseterrorist, this is grandiose both in its vision and its reach, and yet simultaneously deeply personal and reflective. A palette of recurring but diverse computer-generated and real, organic sounds including various strings, water, wind instruments, a wide variety of percussive instrumentation and rich synth pads means an earthy, elemental tone wends it way throughout the underlying electronica platform. Dark, cinematic electronica, the sound of a cold winter sunrise. Albums like this don't come along very often. A supremely expressive and rewarding work of art. 8/10

Rob Dyer (February 2010)