SOUNDTRACK: ESMERINE-Dalmak [CST096] (2013).
I really enjoyed Esmerine’s previous record–it was a delightful surprise from a band I didn’t know. Since then, they have put out two albums. Dalmak is a Turkish verb with many connotations: to contemplate, to be absorbed in, to dive into, to bathe in, to rush into, to plummet.
The album was recorded in Istanbul and after laying down the basic tracks, they added local musicians who contributed some great sounding Middle eastern and Turkish instruments–bendir (a drum), darbuka (another kind of drum), erbane, meh, barama and saz (a stringed instrument)–on tracks 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7.
“Learning to Crawl” opens the disc and consists of 3 minutes of beautiful swirling cellos and violins that create a wonderful atmosphere. “Lost River Blues Pt 1” comes in next and it changes the whole tenor of the album with the first of the Turkish instruments. The marimba keeps a musical rhythm as the other droning instruments play layers of music–creating an unexpected tension. The repetitions of the rhythm is a wonderful undercurrent to the lovely cello and violin that play washes of music over the top. Their melody adds a great deal of drama. It is a 7 minute song and once it’s over it jumps right into “Lost River Blues Pt 2.”
Part 2 opens with some stringed instruments playing a great middle eastern melody alternating with some loud choruses of instruments. The song grows quiet in the middle and the flute like instrument (the meh?) plays a melody before all of the drums kick in again (there are so many drums) the song grows more intense.
“Barn Board Fire” opens with some Middle Eastern strings again (the saz, I gather) and a simple two note bass to back in up. When the drums kick in the song really feels full. There’s a cello solo that runs throughout the song and it’s quite lovely. When the cello matches the rest of the music, there’s few measures that play with loud and soft and it’s quite cool. It builds to a raucous ending before echoing out
“Hayale Dalmak” opens with some waves of keyboards, almost like a new age song. it works as something of an intermission before the intense cello melody of “Translator’s Clos Pt 1.” This time the first part is the shorter one, as the drums and cello play a great melody and rhythm together. Again, it’s so scenic and evocative. It builds to a great closure before switching to Pt 2 which opens with a great percussion intro (I need to know how they made those popping sounds). This part is a little slower than the first, although the drums are still pretty intense. In fact, even though there is a lot of cello in this song, the drums are really the highlight with all kinds of awesome percussion going on. The middle of the song introduces the first vocals on the record–I assume they are in Turkish or Persian.
“White Pine” sounds like a western melody played on an Eastern instrument and a mournful violin played over the top. It’s a neat twist. The final track “Yavri Yavri” opens with glockenspiel and strings. The song swirls around before vocals come in again. It stays like this for five or so minutes–always remaining somewhat mellow but never easy.
I really enjoyed this album. And it gets better with each listen–the combination of Western and Eastern instruments works so well in these songs. And of course, Becky Foon and Bruce Cawdron write some amazing melodies as well.
[READ: February 20, 2016] Sculptor
I know Scott McCloud from his excellent Understanding Comics, which does a great job in explaining how comics work to novices but also shows keen insight for fanboys as well.
I never really considered that he had created his own comics (even though the above book is also full of his drawings). He had created a series called Zot!, but really not all that much more.
The premise of this book is fairly simple, but the details and twists and the psychological depth are really staggering. As is the beauty of McCloud’s drawing. (more…)
This soundtrack came with my copy of the book, although it can be ordered 
I Just Read About That... 