Nyn

Stassinopoulou has aptly described herself as a ‘Balkan ethno-trance artist’ and a practitioner of techno-folk psychedelia. I’ve been listening to her (and her partner Stathis Kalyviotis) intermittently since 2002, and their 2012 album Greekadelia was rated as a Top of the World review in #87, so had high expectations of this CD. Unfortunately they were not met. Nyn is explicitly inspired – permeated might be more apt – by the ongoing economic and moral crisis in Greece. The musical texture, as you might expect, proves dark and heavy, but excessively so: even the booklet photos are deep in shadow. Electronic effects are so dialled up that Stassinopoulou's ethereal voice is all but lost.

At its best, the pair's music reflects the time they have spent on Anáfi, their beloved Cycladic islet, and tracks such as ‘Ola Pane kai Erhondai’ and ‘Ah Athanate’ feature samples of a festive crowd outside a church, bagpipe riffs or goat bells on the hillside. But there's too little of that here. The lyrics are rather New Age-y, and since much is made of them – English translations fill the notes booklet – more care was needed in rendering the often gnomic Greek to avoid triteness.