Bombyx Mori

This is an extremely elegant and accomplished record. But that should come as no surprise as it features three extremely skilled musicians: Efrén López on plucked strings, Ciro Montanari on Indian sarod and Jordi Prats on tabla. Having all been involved in Ross Daly’s Labyrinth project, they are passionate about the modal instruments of Asia and the Mediterranean and here create ten new compositions for them.

The inspiration is silk and the Silk Road. It begins with ‘The Secret’, a speedily paced 11-minute piece introducing the three musicians. How silk was produced was kept a secret by the Chinese. ‘Prism’ is a moment of calm, and then things get more exciting with ‘3,000 Feet’ – the length of thread from a single silkworm with dramatic sarod writing and more variety of speeds and textures including vocal percussion. López plays a wide variety of instruments including oud, hurdy-gurdy, Azeri tar, and Herati dutar. The guttural but speedy Afghan rubab is distinctive on the title-track and ‘A.A.A.A.A.A.A.’ (sic), dedicated to the mulberry from which the rubab and silk are made. The band see the Silk Road not so much as a road, ‘but as a long unifying thread that bind us together, linking lives around the world. Some of these pieces seem over-extended and a little too polite, but the musicianship and vision is exemplary.