By Josef Woodard | Published August 2021
Long before musicians started recording and overdubbing themselves, Stephan Micus turned track tapestry-making into a highly personal art form. On his 24th album for ECM, the multi-instrumentalist delivers the hypnotically contemplative Winter’s End.
Micus creates his own acoustic sound world and sets his own implied narrative over the course of 12 tracks, framed by “Autumn Hymn” and “Winter Hymn.” Both feature a Madagascar xylophone, the chikulo, which serves as an anchoring presence. His mesmeric signature Micus chorus — consisting of between 11 and 14 layered voices — lends a vaguely Eastern European choral ambience to “The Longing Of The Migrant Birds” and “Sun Dance,” and we become entranced by the varied textural palette he deftly combines using the Japanese nohkan flute, the West African tongue drum and the Balinese suling flute, as well as the de-centralized “Western” timbre of a slightly detuned 12-string guitar.
His is an organic methodology offering a generous, ambiguous view of world music through one artist’s distinctive filter. This music feels at once familiar and foreign, in the best way.
Winter’s End: Autumn Hymn; Walking In Snow; The Longing Of The Migrant Birds; Baobab Dance; Southern Stars; Black Mother; A New Light; Companions; Oh Chikulo; Sun Dance; Walking In Sand; Winter Hymn. (47:21)
Personnel: Stephan Micus, chikulo, nohkan, 12-string guitar, tongue drums, voice, kalimba, sinding, charango, ney, sattar, Tibetan cymbals, suling.
Ordering Info: ecmrecords.com
