Green Memories

As Middle Eastern-inflected albums go, this is definitely a strange entry. Singer Azam Ali is well known from other projects, while Keyavash Nourai is an exceptional violinist, adept in Arabic and Indian music and more. But the star here is Lila, a computer music instrument played (and designed) by Shahrokh Yadegari that essentially processes and works with the musicians to turn the music into something very different. So while the roots might be evident, the branches that emerge sound radically different. Often Ali is singing in a nonsensical language (expect for the final cut, "Mantra," where she sings...a mantra). The album is called "a structured improvisation work," and that probably offers the best description, since the tracks ebb and flow, sometimes with a long tone that seems to stretch to infinity, and at other times offering something that seems to softly roil and boil. Adventurous and constantly challenging, it's not a journey but more a series of moods, technology with a soul, and a soundtrack for the spirit.