Talented duo About Aphrodite traverse a variety of styles on Songs Without Words, an album released via Protomaterial Records. Blending Persian folk tradition, jazz, chamber music, and synth textures, Gilda Razani and Hanzō Wanning craft a global soundtrack that moves seamlessly from eerie, theremin-led foreboding into cinematic, saxophone-driven soundscapes. The result embraces both meticulous arrangements and spontaneous jams, also taking musical inspiration from Razani’s Persian heritage.
Opening the album, “Sartschubeh” ushers in a delectably eerie soundscape. Spacey theremin, outdoor ambience, and touches of chilly piano venture to an absorbing expanse, where saxophone and piano glisten in their gorgeous interplay. Razani’s saxophone work and Wanning’s piano playing are quickly on full display with this impressive opener, stirring in both its hauntingly spacious beginnings and saxophone-propelled swells. The moody “Loretta’s Sinfonia” arrives next, a two-movement work that spans from initially subdued, hypnotic flair to a danceable vibrancy, reflecting the Iranian tradition of beginning slowly before shifting into rhythmic movement. Jazzy percussive pitter-patter and magnetic piano work are especially compelling during that memorable second section.
Another standout, “Heroine of the Night” dazzles in its balancing of emotive piano playing and darker exotic mystique, progressing from expressive piano work and charismatic rhythms into chilling, sporadic vocal haunts. This track flows seamlessly into album finale “Reverie,” crafting a dream-like soundscape with its lulling mixture of saxophone and piano, which at the five-minute turn enthralls in its shift from twinkling keys to solemn saxophone expressions, which then take strong hold across the final two minutes. Songs Without Words is a beautiful full-length achievement from About Aphrodite.
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“Heroine of the Night” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
