Pissourin
It's been a bit over a year since we first mentioned the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Greedy and expressed our joy about discovering the electronically enhanced post-rembetiko compositions of a certain Trio Tekke on "Strovilos", their 'whirlwind' of a fourth album. Today, we bring you the fourth album and resounding return of another Cyprus-based three-piece, coincidentally also led by musical mastermind Antonis Antoniou, who released his first solo album "Kkismettin" back in April. This piece shines a light on the innovative, award-winning Cypriot avant-folk outfit Monsieur Doumani, who have been in existence for a decade and already gathered much global acclaim with their previous work, putting a thrilling, psychedelic twist on their island's sonic traditions.
Recently released on the world-class Glitterbeat imprint, the group's latest record takes an even more imaginative approach than its predecessors, venturing deep into the night, "when strange things happen, when shapes shift and blur, when it's hard to know what's real and what's illusion." Simply entitled "Pissourin" (which translates to 'total darkness' in the Cypriot dialect), the nine tracks delve into unknown territory, adding layer onto layer, taking unexpected, adventurous turns yet remaining eerily consistent and true to their celebratory, borderline folkloristic form. "Our idea was a concept, an album that was a portrait of the night,” says Antoniou. “Something that began in the place between sleep and dream and waking. It gave us the concept, a quest through the night for the meaning of life, to feel things we did when we were kids: innocent, true, honest. A chance to leave behind what keeps our mind and soul down and to be able to fly towards freedom and love.”
Despite the aforementioned nocturnal leitmotif, this freedom to create naturally in terms of the exploratory narrative, the melodic instrumentation and rollercoaster arrangements of "Pissourin" shines bright throughout, as Antoniou (tzouras), Demetris Yiasemides (trombone) and new/old band member Andy Skordis (guitar) juxtapose their intertwining ideas with electronic ornamentation to create bold musical statements. Their dynamic approach "gave them the freedom to draw inspiration from far beyond Cyprus while staying connected to their roots: adding the punch and raw power of rock, the wild colours of Turkish psychedelia, even the hypnotic draw of West African music." And with that we leave you to it. You can listen to the full opus in the player below and watch the official video to "Koukkoufkiáos", the omniscient 'owl'. Συγχαρητήρια, Monsieur Doumani!
The band will be touring Austria, Germany and Switzerland in November:
04/11 AT Graz, Folk.art Festival
09/11 AT Innsbruck, PMK
10/11 D Munich, Kranhalle
11/11 D Ludwigshafen, Pfalzbau
12/11 CH Düdingen, Bad Bonn
13/11 CH Zurich, Bogen
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