After listening to ‘Notes & Destines’, it took us a while to put pen to paper. Sometimes, a record can be so hypnotic and cathartic that returning to reality is rather difficult… Yet, we must start forming coherent thoughts about what just happened: a triumph of neoclassical-coded piano tones and tender, hypnotic ambient textures. Released just over a month ago, ‘Notes & Destinies’ marks the latest album by Madrid-based composer and pianist Egod Culmen. We urge any like-minded listener to get close to the project and its nuanced work.
What unfolds in ‘Notes & Destines’ is a celestial aural experience, seven tracks boasting a blissful, evocative charge. The record’s musical reference is certainly neoclassical, yet it’s delivered in a very welcoming manner, transforming the album into quite a relatable and familiar entity. That is to say, it doesn’t necessarily put up a cultural barrier. Instead, it invites listeners in. Tracks such as ‘Rhapsody In Grey’ and ‘Yearn’ help a lot with introspection and emotional reckoning, while highlighting Culmen’s sensible artistry.
‘Colon & Santa Fe’ carries hints of jazz melodism, or at least that’s how we perceive it. It comes across as more angular, sharper, even playfully dissonant at times. Lastly, the album also features a collaboration with the previously featured Edoardo Gastaldi in ‘Exquisite Corpse I & II’. Speaking about their collaborative creative process, Culmen explains: “The two tracks were part of a blind composition game: each of us listened to the final 10 seconds of the other’s composition and then created our own section based on that.”
Recommended! Discover ‘Notes & Destinies’ is out now via Siril Records: