Merope
Véjula
STROOM
/
2024
LP
27.99
STRLP-094
Incl. VAT plus shipping / Orders from outside the EU are exempt from VAT
Tracklist
1Koumu Lil
2Namopi (feat Laraaji & Shahzad Ismaily)
3Lopsine (feat Bill Frisell)
4Vija
5Spindule
6Aglala
7O Underhill (feat Shahzad Ismaily)
8Rana

Merope's most experimental and open-minded full length to date, Vėjula is a celebration of collaboration and playfulness, and features appearances from Shahzad Ismaily, Laraaji and Bill Frisell. Like its predecessors, the duo's fifth album still roots itself in Lithuanian folk forms, but sprouts out spiritedly from that point into unfamiliar landscapes, muddling ancient themes with contemporary philosophies, concepts and technology. Delicate instrumental sequences and ethereal vocals are woven into a rich tapestry of subtle synth work and evocative field recordings. On 'Kouma lil', Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė and Bert Cools experiment with digital images of the kanklės (a traditional Lithuanian chordophone), and Jurgelevičiūtė's voice, blurring the boundary between the organic and the artificial, while on 'Suiakmo, French percussionist Toma Gouband adds percussion from his custom-made sounding stones to Jurgelevičiūtė's gentle words and Cools' surreal, sensuous electronics. 'Vėjula' is an album that reaches into the unknown without loosing its tight grip on the past. Merope are in a new creative phase of their career, and they've never sounded quite so universal, or so vital.