SEYAAT

Ok, let's go back to Senmuth after some years since my last review of his huge output.

Seyaat is a Turkish word wich means "Journey", or "Trip", and in order to have a journey we need a "Yol" (road in Turkish). It's just a 2 minutes introduction used to set the mood, not dissimilar from the usual dark ambient music typicial of this artist. During the first moments of this trip we have some problems with "Intimidating Water Injury", this is how Google translates the title of the second very short track, which is darker than the previous: about 50 seconds of bells and dreamy sounds which lead to "Yıldız" (Star, but also the name of an University). This track is very unusual in Senmuth's discography. Despite some background sounds and percussion, it's based on a short progression of chords on acoustic and 12-strings guitar. The melody is played on a third clean guitar. I honestly think that he should use guitars more often in his works. This track has a sort of early-Floyd mood.

Now we are in a real place: "Çufut Qale" (Jewish fortress) is in Ukraine (if Crimea can still be considere part of Ukraine). The track starts with a distorted guitar chord Which can remind to "The Nile Song" from Pink Floyd's "More", but it turns into a regular Senmuth's instrumental after few seconds. Again a dark ambient track which luckiky doesn't contain the sudden changes of pitch which I think sometimes jeopardize what may be a good track. This is one of the most melodic albums ever released by Senmuth. This track lasts about 12 minutes and is the album's hilight.

The journey continues to the other side of the Black Sea: "Sağanaq" means "Hard Rain", but now we are in Azerbaijan, even if there's a "Sağanaq Restaurant" in Istanbuln but the thunders which open the track don't leave room to any doubt. Again acoustic guitars and keys on minor chords. This is an excellent track, quite bluesy. I have to say that this album has surprised me. It's a sort of standalone thing between hundreds of albums but still recognisable.

Baqla means fava bean in Urdu. With this track we are back to the usual dark ethnic. Obsessive percussion, a bass keyboard note and various noises and middle eastern sounds. The fava bean was also used as medical herb in Egypt and we know that Valery Androsov thinks he is the reincarnation of Sen-em-muth who was Tut-Ankh-Amon's architect.

Back to Turkey, "Gizli Gece" means "Secret Night. This is another typical Senmuth's track, one of those which can be appreciated if you let them transport your mind to ancient times and civilizations. I think that sometimes Senmuth's music works at a subliminal level. At least, it does for me.

"Çatır Dağ" literally means "Mountain shaped as a tent". It's a mountain close to Simferopol, again in Crimea. It has a middle-eastern feeling and alternates parts full of percussion and darker moments. There's also some good distorted guitar.

Finally, "Anğara Boğazı" (Gorge Throat) closes our trip around the Black Sea. It starts with dark sounds, like a descent into an abyss, A sort of harp takes the lead and is joint by tablas and some other kind of percussion. As many Senmuth's tracks, it's cinematic. It may be a good sountrack for a thriller.

This music needs attention and transport. Better on headphones in the dark, and this is one of the best albums released by Senmuth. I rate this "trip" with 4 PA stars.