Praznina/Emptiness

Best known as a member of the Slovenian ‘imaginary folk’ band Širom, Iztok Koren is an experimental multi-instrumentalist who clearly enjoys a challenge. When the band had to abandon a trip to Sarajevo in Bosnia, where they were to provide the music for a theatrical show, he took himself off to a remote hut in the Slovenian hills to record his second solo album. It only took him one day, and yet this set lasts for an hour and a quarter – a remarkably lengthy affair by current standards – and involves him playing everything from banjo to gimbri, electric guitar, balafon, synth, steel drum and percussion ‘without overdubs.’ Apparently his compositions were inspired by ‘personal moral dilemmas’ and the idea that ‘emptiness is a necessary condition… to find out who and what you really belong to.’ But it's impossible to work out which piece reflects which idea, because this is an all-instrumental set and the tracks don't have names but are simply given a number and the corresponding amount of dots (‘01.’; ‘02..’; ‘03…’ and so on). The music is equally unusual, ranging from finely-played folk-influenced banjo or gimbri solos to brooding or menacing passages involving electric guitar, rumbling synth effects and percussion, along with a lighter section matching balafon against a slinky riff. Great atmospheric music for a play or a ghost film.