Unfading

Following her superb album Where Water Travels Home and the internationally acclaimed, extraordinary collaboration with Norwegian star pianist Tord Gustavsen for the ECM label (What Was Said, 2016), German-Afghan singer Simin Tander opens a new door on her artistic journey, and beyond it she discovers unusual soundscapes: with her expressive voice and a freshly formed quartet, she sets out on an adventure of multifaceted connections with her new album Unfading. In it she interweaves the flow of actual songs and the power of timelessly beautiful melodies full of emotion with echoes of the archaic past and passages of improvised freedom. And this always from a very female perspective: texts from poetesses in the Pashto language and the metamorphosis of an Afghan hit from the 1960s are juxtaposed with the poetry of Sylvia Plath, Tander's own compositions in a beguilingly secretive narrative tone and a classical Spanish lullaby; an intertwined dramatic arc stretching across centuries connecting different creative women - with mature, evocative vocal power. Simin Tander has united three exceptional musicians in an entirely untypical ensemble in order to take this courageous step. Bass player Bjrn Meyer (ECM recording artist) from Sweden and Samuel Rohrer (ECM recording artist) from Switzerland on percussion create the imaginative, rhythmic framework - in an interplay of driving, pulsating, almost funky riffs and impressive, loose textures. The Tunisian musician Jasser Haj Youssef playing the viola d'amore acts as a subtle counterpart to Tander's voice: the deep, delicately warm sound of this unique baroque instrument conjures up rich overtone landscapes and plays a leading role. The result is a celestial texture that seems to speak the unspeakable, yet time and again abandons itself to the tangible gestures of the song-writing. Simin Tander's new project represents her fearless immersion into fascinating, uncharted music territory.