Having featured a track from Esmerine in August’s Head in the Clouds feature, I was going to leave off any further mention of their new album, Dalmak. However, after listening again to the album in its entirety during a road trip, I couldn’t give up the chance to evangelise a little bit more about Esmerine.
While perhaps not as prestigious as fellow Constellation label mates GY!BE and Do Make Say Think, Esmerine have nonetheless carved themselves out a decent career with their particular brand of intimate chamber music.
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Headed by former GY!BE percussionist Bruce Cawdron and cellist Rebecca Foon (A Silver Mt. Zion, Set Fire To Flames), Esmerine’s newest release brings together their haunting Montreal atmospherics with a number of Istanbul musicians who became acquainted with the band during an artist residency in the city.
The album definitely speaks to this immersion in a city that was historically the buffer zone between East and West. Far from being ornaments on an established sound, the Eastern influences are thoroughly engrained in the way the album is constructed, marking somewhat of a departure from Esmerine’s traditional sound.
Have a listen or grab the album over at Constellation Records.