Draft

Despite growing up in the small town of Anogia on the island of Crete, also home to such famous Greek musicians as the late Nikos Xylouris and his younger brother, composer and lyra player Psarantonis, lutist and vocalist Yiagos Hairetis actually spent most of his youth listening to the likes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and The Doors. Those rocky influences are discernible on this superb debut album from a project which fuses Hairetis’ distinctive sound with the experimentalist electric harp playing of Londoner Maria Christina-Harper, a Royal Academy of Music scholar and former winner of the Wales International Harp Competition.

The release notes describe the duo as ‘bringing together the traditional music of Crete and the London avant-garde jazz scene’, but this is an album that is far greater than the sum of its parts. There’s a deeply atmospheric, almost bewitching, intensity to tracks such as ‘Tsakoniko’ and ‘Bells’ that send a shiver down the spine; while a moody, meandering feel pervades the bluesy ‘Lost in the City’, lending it a cinematic quality evocative of the soundtrack to some revered auteur’s inscrutable Meisterwerk. This is one of those rare records that demands, and warrants, a quiet contemplative hour of your time with a good pair of headphones and a glass by your side.