TENHA VUVA

'Tenha Vuva' - Senmuth (6/10)

Following a rare but precedented theme, Russian experimental one man act Senmuth crafts his second album about the land and historically rich region of Bulgaria. An entirely instrumental work (like much of his later product), the music here attempts to paint a picture of Bulgaria through sounds and emotions rather than any linear narrative. Although connections to the country itself are few and far between (barring the region-specific song titles), there is a very deep connection with nature in this music, made evident by the natural ambient samples used throughout the album. 'Tenha Vuva' is not a particularly interesting accomplishment for Valery Av and his Senmuth project, but it is enjoyable nontheless.

While it seems nearly impossible now for Senmuth to break out of his habit of using Middle- Eastern sounds and timbres in his music, there is certainly a greater European sound in the music here, which passes as being refreshing from the scores of albums that exclusively revolve around ancient Egypt and Arabic city-states. The biggest European sound here is that of the accordion, which makes itself very important with songs such as the upbeat 'Nesseber'. Also of importance is the harmonica, which in the album's highlight 'Съзерцание' takes the reins as the lead melody. It is also one of the few instruments here that is played live by Valery Av, as opposed to being a dry computer arrangement. While sounding fairly functional, a large problem that the execution of 'Tenha Vuva' and many other Senmuth releases is that the majority of the instruments are simply synthesized through computer, giving a pretty dry sound to what might have otherwise been much livelier music.

As a pretty experienced listener with Senmuth's work, I have to say that this man does do better music when he tries something he hasn't done much of before, or tries something new altogether. While 'Tenha Vuva' is no revolution in his sound, the subtle addition of new flavors in his music lend a fresher approach towards his music, making this an album that- while not excellent by any personal standard- is a rather enjoyable experience.

The seagull of the cover art opens this album. It takes about 1:30 minutes before the usual mixture of industrial percussion and ethnic instruments comes back to remind that this is Senmuth.

The first track is repetitive but unusually melodic for this artist, probably because the album is about Bulgaria instead of Egypt, or better, Tenha Vuva is a botanic garden dedicated to a Romanian queen The place name means "Quiet Nest".

Track 2 is not so quiet. The rhythm is not high, but it's noisy and dark even without the usual ethnic string instruments. The central part, what we may call a chorus, is a bit melodic, too, but it's followed by a noisy and chaotic section that's really interesting. Overall a good track.

"Pontos Euxenos" is mainly ethnic and suffers of the sudden changes of pitch that I personally don't like too much in Senmuth's music. However it's not bad and quite relaxing.

The title of track4 has two different translations (from Google) depending if it's Russian (Broken Kamni) or Serbian (Kill Kamni). In any case Google doesn't say what a Kamni is, and this track is almost forgettable.

"Perperikon" as often happens, is the name of an ancient ruined megalithic city. Looking at the site's shots while listening adds something more to the track. The same for the following percussion-based track that's about the murals of a Bulgarian monastery reachable through a long stairway dug in the rocks and the caves of a carsic mountain.

I haven't found any info about the track7, but it's one of the most rocking tracks of the album. Still melodic but with a heavy background that stops only during a short electronic interlude. It reminds a bit to Vangelis, if only Vangelis would have used sounds of this heaviness.

The 8th track signs a temporary return to the industrial metal of the origin with techno drumming but without the distortion kit of the first albums. It's a nice track but it would have been better without some useless jumps of pitch.

Finally there's a slow track still very dark. There's no melodic line as the sequence of chords appears to be randomic, but it's possible that I'm unable to catch it's structure.

It's not my favorite Senmuth's abum and it comes just after the one that impressed me more than all the others that's Zekhenu Uaut Sekhet.

It doesn't reach the 3 stars for me. It has some good moments, specially in the melodic parts but apart of Perperikon and some seashore noises I haven't had a big listening pleasure.