Mockroot

Interesting work by Armenian-born pianist Tigran Hamasyan using some Armenian melodies and imitating some Middle Eastern instruments and dropping in 21st American musical ideas; no FCC's; *favorite tracks: 6,8,9,10

1. "To Love" (2:06) – vocalization with piano accompaniment with interesting ornamentation

2. "Song for Melan and Rafik" (5:56) – dense piano with vocalization; gathers complexity; sound tapestry where drums come in, polyrhythmic; really hard to describe (!); 42/16 time signature!; horns come in near end

3. "Kars 1" (5:26) – Armenian folk melody with words, track has some random unpleasant scratch sounds that don't sound intentional (maybe they are); turns into banged bass chords

4."Double Faced" (5:30) – lots of drum work, synth, some vocals, more of a musical idea than a song

5. "The Roads That Bring Me Closer" (4:16) – vocalization, maybe meant to be haunting, no Middle Eastern flavor; sounds little like a film soundtrack

*6. "Lilac" (4:10) – nice piano motifs to start; waltz in minor key; nice ornamentation; a little reminiscent of Satie (but keeps moving :-))

7."Entertain Me" (3:19) – starts off loud and insistent; heavy chords with drums

*8. "The Apple Orchard in Saghmosavanq" (4:22) – starts off quiet, contemplative with vocalization; adds sounds until it becomes very slowly more intense; and then drops back into quiet

*9. "Kars 2 (Wounds of the Centuries)" (1:34) – nice folk motif in minor key; very santur-ish

*10. "To Negate" (5:17) – starts mysteriously with Armenian mode on piano and vocalization; repetitive in a good way; nice tapered ending

11. "The Grid" (5:56) – starts neoclassical, fast; cuts off; jagged the way it goes in and out of rhythms

12. "Out of the Grid" (10:25) – starts off with nice treble santur-like figure; then synths cut in, gets heavier and bassier; goes a lot of different places as does this whole album