The call within

"Armenian piano prodigy's urgent prog and spiritual investigation: A pianist since the age of three, Tigran Hamasyan balances his love for the sonorous melodies of Armenian folk music with a rapid-fire virtuosity derived from jazz and prog. Remarkable opener "Levitation 21" is a quick test of the listener's mettle, Hamasyan's piano and mournful vocal fired by stop-start drums and algebraic time signatures. Those who stick around are rewarded with an LP that confounds and stuns in equal measure, Hamasyan leading his band (...) through tracks like "The Dream Voyager" and "Old Maps" that, in their insistent complexity and entreaties to the divine, find their way to somewhere sublime".

"This is an album in the classic sense - a comprehensive artistic statement. Hamasyan claims to have been inspired by ancient cartography, and The Call Within does feel like a map of an inner journey that only he could lead. Hamasyan is a playful and even spritely guide, taking great pleasure in the flights of beauty and virtuosity at his fingertips".

"Comprising 10 instrumentals for piano, bass and drums (occasionally augmented by wordless vocals, most evocatively on "37 Newlyweds"), the self-produced The Call Within is a pounding, high-intensity adventure that evokes Ennio Morricone on "Our Film" and Yanni on the spiralling "Ara Surrected", while "Space Of Your Existence" uses whistling, drums and angry-period John Cale piano, until it is leavened by a melody so pretty it could have decorated a Renaissance album. Neither background nor easy listening, The Call Within is as in-your-face as instrumental music gets".