The Forest In Me

Hard-working Cretan-Australian duo Xylouris White continue to further their culty freeform lute-and-drums oeuvre with The Forest in Me, their fifth release after 2019's wildly acclaimed The Sisypheans, a work inspired as much by the ancient folk music of Greece as the anything-goes garage bands of 1970s and 80s Melbourne. The dynamic between longtime friends and collaborators, George Xylouris (the son of the great lyra player Psarantonis and nephew of the late singer/songwriter Nikos Xylouris) and Jim White (drummer for the edgy likes of Dirty Three, Cat Power, PJ Harvey and more) has always been one of their unique selling points; witnessed live –and Xylouris White have toured, and toured again – their telepathy is palpable.

The pandemic, however, saw both musicians on opposite sides of the world, waiting, pondering, turning inwards. White already had a cache of drum shapes cut up by musician/producer Guy Picciotto, to which Xylouris began responding remotely, mulling on notes, phrases, harmonics using whatever was there in his studio. Out of this, we have The Forest In Me, a collection of 12 short tracks that feel painterly and impressionistic. Opener ‘Second Sister’ finds White's spluttering, stuttering drums gradually embraced by keening strings, while the Fellini-esque ‘Latin White’ feels made for dancing under a full moon (maybe while wearing a pagan goat mask). Flourishes abound throughout The Forest in Me: sticks on rims, squeaking strings, resonators echoing into the void. Not to be missed, this is a collector's item.