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While participating in bands like Molasses, A Silver Mt. Zion, the collaborative project Kristian/Shalabi/St-Onge, and of course his self-founded Shalabi Effect, Sam Shalabi also found the time to release a solo album. This album is called 'On Hashish,' but - before anybody thinks the main inspiration came from the so-called substance - the music on this album is inspired by the writing, ideas, and life of German historian and critic Walter Benjamin, who supposedly has written material that covers that topic.
Sam Shalabi loves to improvise, as he already has proven on the albums of Shalabi Effect and Kristian/Shalabi/St-Onge, and on his own album, improv music continues to be the main ingredient. Not that he does it on his own: He gets help by a whole lot of friends from the flourishing Montreal improv scene, like Norsola and Thierry from GYBE!; Alexandre St-Onge from the above- mentioned project and Shalabi Effect; Kate Lawrence from Molasses; and many more. Shalabi himself performs as director of it all. If his other projects have proven anything, it is that every single release has a very unique feel, and it's no different with 'On Hashish.' The journey takes off with 'Outside Chance (Dreamfangs),' a 27-minute piece that draws as much meaning from sound as it does from silence. Very much happens during these 27 minutes: It starts off with tingling percussion, bowed bass, and some vague unidentifiable sounds in the background, and it slowly meanders on to more psychedelic territory, where treated flutes create an atmosphere not unlike Euro-improv supergroup AMM. After a few minutes, things get more quiet again, leaving an open space for ear-crushing silence. The movement toward the end gets louder once again, but never becomes chaotic or unsettling. These last two qualities are very much present on the second track 'Soot': a loud and expressionistic improvisation with treated guitar and brass instruments, making it sound very orchestral and, in a way, reminiscent of the works by the London Improvisers Orchestra. A fierce attack on ears and mind, but fascinating all the same. Track three, 'The Wherewithall,' is more electronically spiced, as various forms of static interfere with mysteriously lost piano notes that, once in a while, show up. The atmosphere is frightening, because what lies hidden underneath the static remains unknown, but one can feel very well that it must be something that isn't meant for everybody's ears. It is, if Sam Shalabi lets us in on his own macabre secrets, and that intimate feeling provides a unique experience that is seldom felt with improv music.
Sam Shalabi proves with his first solo album that, once again, he has incredible talents, and that he knows how to use them. 'On Hashish' is a stunning collection of improvisations that sound very different from each other, while still having that Shalabi feeling hanging over each of them. Obligatory material for improv music fans, and for Montreal followers in particular.
http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/sam-shalabi/on-hashish/1405/
Meer Sam Shalabi op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/sam-shalabi
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