This spring, Rebecca Foon struck out on her own and released an album as Saltland, but now the former Thee Silver Mr. Zion member has reconvened with her band Esmerine for a new LP. Dalmak is out on September 3 through Constellation Records.
Esmerine features Foon on cello and former Godspeed You! Black Emperor drummer Bruce Cawdron on marimba. Here, they perform as a quartet along with percussionist Jamie Thompson (Islands, the Unicorns) and multi-instrumentalist Brian Sanderson, who have apparently been added as full members. (That said, we said the same thing about Sarah Page and Andrew Barr for Esmerine's last album, 2011's La Lechuza)
Dalmak was recorded largely in Istanbul, where the group were invited for an artist residency following European tours in 2011 and 2012. They were joined by a handful of Turkish musicians, and the results features a number of instruments that, to be completely honest, we haven't even heard of. A press release notes that instruments here include "bendir, darbuka, erbane, meh, barama, saz" and more.
Following the Istanbul sessions with Barkin Engin and Metin Bozkurt, the band returned to Montreal to finish the album at Breakglass Studio with Jace Lasek (of the Besnard Lakes) and Ian Ilavsky. The songs are said to mix "DIY rock, new folk and modern classical/contemporary sensibilities," and its sonics boast "saturated warmth, depth and pulsing grit."
See the tracklist below. Head below to listen to an edit of the densely percussive, dramatically textured album cut "Translator's Clos II."
Dalmak:
1.Learning to Crawl
2. Lost River Blues I
3. Lost River Blues II
4. Barn Board Fire
5. Hayale Dalmak
6. Translator's Clos I
7. Translator's Clos II
8. White Pine
9. Yavri Yavri
Esmerine features Foon on cello and former Godspeed You! Black Emperor drummer Bruce Cawdron on marimba. Here, they perform as a quartet along with percussionist Jamie Thompson (Islands, the Unicorns) and multi-instrumentalist Brian Sanderson, who have apparently been added as full members. (That said, we said the same thing about Sarah Page and Andrew Barr for Esmerine's last album, 2011's La Lechuza)
Dalmak was recorded largely in Istanbul, where the group were invited for an artist residency following European tours in 2011 and 2012. They were joined by a handful of Turkish musicians, and the results features a number of instruments that, to be completely honest, we haven't even heard of. A press release notes that instruments here include "bendir, darbuka, erbane, meh, barama, saz" and more.
Following the Istanbul sessions with Barkin Engin and Metin Bozkurt, the band returned to Montreal to finish the album at Breakglass Studio with Jace Lasek (of the Besnard Lakes) and Ian Ilavsky. The songs are said to mix "DIY rock, new folk and modern classical/contemporary sensibilities," and its sonics boast "saturated warmth, depth and pulsing grit."
See the tracklist below. Head below to listen to an edit of the densely percussive, dramatically textured album cut "Translator's Clos II."
Dalmak:
1.Learning to Crawl
2. Lost River Blues I
3. Lost River Blues II
4. Barn Board Fire
5. Hayale Dalmak
6. Translator's Clos I
7. Translator's Clos II
8. White Pine
9. Yavri Yavri