Evgeny Masloboev and Anastasia Masloboeva
Russian Folksongs in the Key of Sadness
Leo Records CD LR 559
****
Full Price (43 mins)
Leo Records, home to artists such as Sun Ra, Evan Parker and Art Ensemble of Chicago, has long been an important imprint on the independent jazz and improv scene, and its few world music-related releases, with artists like avant Tuvan singer Sainkho Namchylak, explore folk traditions in this context. On this second album from the astonishing Masloboev duo from Siberia, composer father Evgeny and singer daughter Anastasia create shimmering musical landscapes from her resonant, pure voice, and the hammered string and percussive textures of his arrangements. The elements are wood, air and metal: vibraphones and santurs echo; cymbals and machines skitter and clash; voices dissolve in long, cathedral reverbs; psychadelic pianos play out confused, fragmented memories. Opening track ‘Kukushechka/Mamushka’, with its mostly solo voice accompanied by insistent rainfall, is one of the most cinematic, evocative pieces you can ever hope to hear.