Rumi songs

"While past efforts already saw Botany pushing beatmaking into an abstract territory that sounded influenced by artists like Fog or Odd Nosdam, Deepak Verbera sees Botany taking the next step. Eschewing beats altogether, Botany delivers an album inspired more by free jazz and ambient music than hip hop or electronic dance music. It's an album that is less about beats and melodies and more about mood and overall soundscapes. It's an album that requires a little patience, but for those that can sit down and let themselves go in the listening experience, they will find themselves rewarded".

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"Norwegian saxophonist Trygve Seim may lack the marquee status of countryman (and fellow ECM artist) Jan Garbarek. But he is no less adventurous, and has recently been popping up all over on 2016 ECM releases ... The task of setting poetry to music prompted Seim to immerse himself in art song; at the same time he was investigating Arab music, spending extended periods in Egypt collaborating and studying. With the exception of the brief instrumental "Whirling Rhythms" these settings definitely sound like art songs. At first listen they could be at home in the ECM New Series of "classical" recordings. But perhaps the flexibility of the arrangements is one explanation for their release on the main label ... Ultimately beyond genre, these chamber songs do have a certain spiritual affinity to the Rumi settings on countryman Tord Gustavsen's album What was said (ECM, 2016)".

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"Encouraged by the late soprano Anne-Lise Berntsen, Norwegian saxophonist and composer Trygve Seim has been composing songs based on texts by Sufi mystic poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi since 2003 and experimenting with form and instrumentation. This date features his new quartet with mezzo-soprano Tora Augestad, accordionist Frode Haltli, and cellist Svante Henryson. Using formal art song, avant-garde composition, Egyptian classical music, and several other sources as guideposts, this cycle is a stellar achievement for the composer ... His discipline, intuition, and imagination in writing for this group make Rumi's already accessible writings absolutely compelling as song".

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"An album of this nature does have its drawback, and that is that the tone of the album doesn't change much from track to track, so don't look for much in the way of upbeat material on Rumi Songs. This is fairly mellow, tranquil, but also melodic music, straddling that fine line between jazz, classical, chamber, and folk styles, but never veering off too far into any one of them. Lovely vocals and understated yet crisp musicianship permeates the entire album, making Rumi Songs a very different listening experience but certainly a classy one ...".

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"Norwegians paying homage to a Persian poet with 55 minutes of bliss is the kind of far-reaching concept you can expect from Manfred Eicher and company in 2016. Rumi Songs is carefully thought-out and executed by a roster of veterans in their craft, creating a kind and relaxing collection of songs that dwell in love and bliss".