CD + book – Establishment Records

A journey through the icy mountains of the Georgian Greater Caucasus shared by artists variously from Armenia, Germany, and Georgia. This is the premise of Glacier Music II, a refined release produced by Establishment Records. The release also includes a high-quality soft cover book, printed in Latvia with sustainable paper and ink. The book collates conversations with the artists and other documents collected along the way, impressions of the scenery and the complete lyrics and translations of the singing parts in the release. The musical traditions of the places traversed are quite similar; while they represent each place, they also create a delicate and complex network of connections. The stylistic inspiration is varied, supported by the decidedly multifaceted talents of the artists who participated in the project, an initiative commissioned by the local Goethe-Institut.
The exorbitant beauty of this mountainous region is gently reflected in Anushka Chkheidze’s detailed and intimate piano interludes, as well as Eto Gelashvili’s stylised vocal interventions and Lippok’s electronics. Glacier Music II, five years after the previous release, is also an explicit testimony to the effects of climate change, with detailed and timely reflections that consequently also appear in the aforementioned book. However, it is the sound recordings made on a glacier in Kazakistan, already reduced to a third of its original size, that poses real questions about the ongoing climate crisis. This is also underlined by the audio-video interventions by Lippok and Lilleyan and in the sound materials by the group Sounds of Mattehorn, formed by Matthias Meyer, Samuel Weber e Jan Beutel, present in some tracks. The different combinations present in the tracks, alongside the eclectic mix of contemporary sound and traditional music approaches, makes for engaging listening. The experience is shot through with veins of folk, while also feeling experimental and melancholic. If the artists can continue to question our perception on such matters, this is the right way to encourage dialogue and sensitise the listening audience to the decline of the planet.

 

Anushka Chkheidze, Eto Gelashvili, Hayk Karoyi, Lillevan, Robert Lippok – Glacier Music II