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SORIAH (FEAT. ROEDELIUS & NORMAN WESTBERG) - Lumina

Format: 10inch Label & Cat.Number: Mobilization Recordings (California) Release Year: 2023 Note: the "Avant-Shamanic Throat Singer" SORIAH (who lives in California and Tuvan Republic, Russia, a master of 'Khoomei', the traditional Tuvan Throat Singing) with two mesmerizing; evocative drone pieces, feat. ROEDELIUS (CLUSTER, etc.) on pipe organ and NORMAN WESTBERG (SWANS) on guitar - lim. / numb. 350 copies, printed inner sleeves, clear vinyl, download card; - high price unavoidable but this is a very special item we believe !! Price (incl. 19% VAT): €29.50 More Info Available exclusively on 10" clear with white smoke vinyl, this ambient and avante garde collaborative album from world renown throat singer Soriah features prepared guitarist, Norman Westberg (SWANS) and the venerable and seminal German artist, Hans Joachim Roedelius (CLUSTER). The SIDE A track "Alba Via" featuring the later, incorporates the pipe organ housed in the Berlin philharmonic and harkens back to Soriah's first release "Chao Organica in A Minor" with a prepared sense of harmonics and majestic pipe organ whirls. "Mirrored in Amber" featuring the former gives a floating peace and dark vastness expressed in Westbergs heaviy effected guitar and Soriah's spacial expansiveness. This work intends on bringing peace to lost souls of those who have recently passed, a common overarching theme of Soriah's work. https://soriah.bandcamp.com/album/lumina "A long time ago, in Vital Weekly 603, FK reviewed a CD by Soriah, then from Portland, featuring his throat singing and other instruments. Today, I heard his music for the first time, and now it is in collaboration with two others, one per side. The A-side contain 'Alba Via', which is the Latin translation of the Tuvan saying meaning "white road") and is collaborating with Hans Joachim Roedelius, now in his 88th year and still a musical force, always open to working with new musicians. He recorded the pipe organ at the Berlin Philharmonic, which he sent to Soriah (preferred spelling is SoRIAH). I don't know if any processing was done to the Roedelius recordings. I couldn't tell. If entirely unprocessed, the pipe organ is played only at the very low end of the register and very few tones. It takes some time before Soriah's voice comes in, and I think there is also a flute-like sound. Even though I am not an expert on overtone singing, I believe the actual overtone singing happens later in this piece. The overall mood is tranquil, and while there is development throughout, it slowly grows with more sounds and, as with so many parts of ambient music, an all-too-quick ending. I had not heard of Norman Westberg before; my bad, I know, but I was never a fan of the Swans. That's where his main claim to fame is. Unlike Roedelius, whose work I listened to a lot and found a natural match for Soriah, I never heard any of his solo work. But Westberg delivers the goods. Apparently, all on guitar and, at least that's what I think, a lot of effects. Westberg creates a massive drone, slowly developing and changing, and Soriah's throat singing rolls majestically in and out of the mix. For some strange reason, there is a mid-track, fade out, and fade in, like there is a first and a second part, but there isn't much difference. Here, the development is also slow but stays within the number of sounds used. Unlike the other side, which seems to add sounds as the piece goes. Both pieces are about twelve minutes each, and that's not enough for me. Both could have been twenty and make up for a great LP, or both could have been thirty, and it would be an excellent CD; I prefer the latter because flipping a record also takes the listener out of the flow. It's fantastic music, albeit way too short." [FdW / Vital Weekly]