The Secretes of the Rocks

The Secrets of the Rocks is the second album on Tinder from Kristi Stassinopoulou, a Greek singer with a penchant for fusion with American trends in music. Here, she continues the fusion she started in Echotropia, with an emphasis on the mysticism of the sea, islands, and beaches of her native Greece. The influences of American and British electronica are extremely hard to miss, as Stathis Kalyviotis runs through riff after bending riff of keyboard lines and methodical voice bending and echoing. For the most part, it's Kalyviotis that composes the music for the various works, with Stassinopoulou writing the lyrics on themes of love, the sea, and at times, their interactions. The lyrics are thoroughly poetic in their nature, at times following a stream of consciousness and at other times turning into a simple love song. While the music itself isn't necessarily virtuosic, it's quite stable and worth a listen (especially with the occasional addition of the saz and ney). It's the interaction of Stassinopoulou's vocals and the various bits of electronica that becomes the highlight though, with the intricacies of the Greek language adding a bit to the sonic end result. For someone looking for a modern Greek sound (without the ever-present bouzouki, that is), this album is perhaps one of the best examples available, with the Greek obsession with the sea holding itself high, and the music moving along capably.