Zsolt Sores Ahad, Ahad’s Master’s Garden III (2007-2009): The Harmonian Blues (Music for Film, Theatre and Dance), Fourth Dimension, FD2CD76 (2011)
This is a very beguiling double set of psychedelic electroacoustic folk by Budapest-based multi-instrumentalist Zsolt Sores Ahad and his band. In the manner of gypsies the musicians wander high and low through different soundscapes of varying atmosphere: sometimes intimate, friendly yet airy, a little sinister and ambiguous even. As the album’s title indicates, this is indeed soundtrack music for movies, plays and other dramas yet to be made: each track is its own self-referential world and evokes particular visual associations, sounds and even smells.
An early highlight is “On the Top of the Darwin Tillite – Climb the Aztec Siltstone”, an arduous climb up a mysterious pyramid dominated by a long drone that alternately urges us on and warns us of the curse that might await us at the top for disturbing the Aztec gods’ rest. Perhaps we might be sacrificed and our hearts offered to the sun god to ensure his continued travels through the sky. “In the Dry Valleys” offers up searingly hot desert landscapes in which a Cormac McCarthy western might play out. “The Sands are Running Out” features very distorted sounds that sound like they might be coming from an electric guitar, a very lethargic saxophone and unusual percussion that reminds me of a large floating hollow container in a tub of water.
“Potlatch on the Beach of the Dirty Little Hoare Pond – The Heart of a Poet” might be a spiritual quest as suggested by the sitar and an expectant mood early in the piece. The piece develops slowly and seemingly in a disorganised way but the whole thing is held together by the large spaces within and the questing mood.
The second disc is taken up by one track “Lessness (Meeting with Godot)” which is a highly abstract piece featuring very long tones and spoken-word Hungarian-language recordings of Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame”. The track was composed for a theatre performance of this play. For such a long and sparing piece that’s not very immersive and lacks much atmosphere, the music holds very well and generates on-going tension. It does get better in its last five minutes when proceedings turn very hysterical.
The whole set is perhaps best heard as two separate discs: trying to hear both CDs can tax the endurance and the long track does take its time to build up to the climax.
Contact: Fourth Dimension, Zsolt Sores Ahad