Senyawa - Menjadi (2015)

Morphine Records blow minds with a remarkable slab of experiments by Indonesia's Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryadi a.k.a. Senyawa. Found in orbit between traditional Javanese folk music and the kind of sui generis ritual musics of Ghedalia Tazartes or Keiji Haino, 'Menjadi' is a captivating showcase of the duo's unhindered improvisatory instinct and unique range of extended vocal, from possessed chants to guttural droning and upper-register ululations, all matched by a deft instrumental techniques on the self-made bambuwukir - an amplified bamboo zither. Recorded and subtly produced by Rabih Beaini in Berlin following their standout performance at CTM 2015, and subsequently mastered by Neel in Rome, the final results of 'Menjadi' yield a passage to alternate, exotic dimensions of the mindrarely granted by other music, referencing but transcending planes of black metal, psychedelic rock and indigenous articulation to find an other place relatable to all attuned ears.