Slovenian trio Sirom (Iztok Koren, Ana Kravanja, Samo Kutin)
merged post-rock, free-jazz, raga-rock and folk-rock into one original
style of
improvised jams
for acoustic and handmade instruments.
Sirom I (2016) contains
the 15-minute
Svetlobni Prelaz Cez Vrnitev, which starts out with a shocking
pandemonium but then unveils a plaintive melody and spends most of the time
in a delicate interplay of instruments that feels ancient but is clearly
modern, spawned by free jazz and psychedelic rock;
the soothing and subdued 18-minute Trilogija, which opens with a sort of saltarello and settles into hypnotic strumming with a restless violin and ends in a percussive finale;
and
Mehki Koraki Rjovenja, mostly a percussive jam that begins as a
gamelan and morphs into a robotic dance.
Parts of I Can Be A Clay Snapper (2017) are admittedly
aimless, like Just About Awake,
but the 12-minute Boats Biding Beware is held together by humming and a sense of journeying (until it collapses halfway into funny percussion and funny noises).
and the eleven-minute
Maestro Kneading Screams Of Joy is a charming jig that becomes a pastoral
elegy.
After a brief overture (a sort of gypsy lament),
Svet Ki Spece Konju Cvet/ A Universe That Roasts Blossoms For A Horse (2019) has only four pieces.
Prekaljen V Dlan Prime Kljuc/ Sleight Of Hand With A Melting Key (15:17) follows their well-tested blueprint: a festive folk dance turns into a lengthy free-form improvisation, but this is one of their most fluid and cohesive ones.
Utrip Izloca Svoje Brate In Sestre/ A Pulse Expels Its Brothers and Sisters (9:26) is a bit unfocused (first a syncopated frenzy, then a cello-driven
melodic fantasia), but
Enako Kot Katere Se Je Komaj Spomnila/ Same As The One She Hardly Remembered (8:29) well epitomizes a new, austere tone, worthy of classical chamber music,
that leaves behind both the
orgiastic and the "spaced-out" tones of earlier recordings.
There's unusually lot of singing in Brez Velike Verjetnosti Objema/ Low Probability Of A Hug (7:50).
The sprawling Utekocinjeni Prestol Preprostih/ The Liquified Throne of Simplicity (2022) mantains the format of four lengthy pieces and a short one but basically doubles the duration of the pieces.
The 20-minute Pari Se Ovenelo Praznoverje/ Wilted Superstition Engaged In Copulation makes the best of its duration:
free-jazz with Afro-Caribbean percussion and with a home-made flute replacing the saxophone, or imagine Don Cherry jamming with
Nana Vasconcelos, or
Jon Hassell playing with an Amazon tribe.
The slow, steady progression of the 18-minute Modrikasto Kresnicenje/ A Bluish Flickering from sparse soundscape to dense, intricate, buzzing cacophony is an effective way to induce trance.
The 16-minute Pase, Zguba, Pada V Spanec/ Grazes, Wrinkles, Drifts Into Sleep, instead, is too repetitive/static at the beginning and then simply indulges in booming drones, and the parts of the
19-minute Seže S Kostjo V Ogenj Se Prevrne S Kaco/ Prods The Fire With A Bone, Rolls Over With A Snake feel unbalanced.
