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Imagine what all the ethno-ambient, world beat and exotic dub music around these days might sound like without any electronic instruments or production. In the new digital century, that's a pretty mind-blowing thought. Yet over 30-plus years of releasing albums on the indefinable ECM label, Stephan Micus' working methods have remained essentially unchanged. In that regard Micus is the ultimate purist; all his instrumentation and sounds are acoustic and unprocessed. In another sense, however, he's completely non-purist, having collected a massive array or instruments from all over the world and learnt to play them in his own unique and deeply personal way. Then there’s the ones he designs himself, plus everyday objects like flower pots which he adapts and uses in a musical context. So while his music his an exotic appeal to Western ears, he's not mimicking the tradition of any culture. His music is both earthy and sublime, meditative and celebratory. To be honest, he hasn’t really made a bad record but if you haven’t heard him yet here's some excellent albums to start with. Wings Over Water and Twilight Fields find Micus playing collections of different sized clay flowerpots, struck in various ways and enhanced on occasion with some mesmerising Middle Eastern-style vocals. These enchanting albums are also among his most accessible. On Koan Micus summons a wonderfully still, Zen-like atmosphere with Japanese shakuhachi flute, zither and other exotic instruments. Listen To The Rain boasts some bright and deeply beautiful and constructions for acoustic guitar. Altogether different is The Music Of Stones which was performed in the large acoustic space of the Ulm Cathedral in West Germany. The chief instruments here are resonating stone blocks specially carved by sculptor Elmar Daucher which, like the clay pots on earlier albums, are “played” in various ways to produce an astonishing array of tones and colours. It could easily sound like a mess over the course of a whole album, but with the aid of some shakuhachi flute and vocals it holds together beautifully. The most significant of his more recent albums is on On The Wing. It finds Micus' talent undiminished and sees him returning to pure instrumental music after many years of vocally-orientated works. The bittersweet strains of a bagpipe-like reed instrument feature prominently without dominating the album and there's a twang to some of the melodies that's simultaneous Moroccan and Irish, if you can imagine such a thing. The flutes are exquisitely warm and the nasal strains of his reed instruments are a piercing and clear as a desert night sky. I'm not going to call Micus' albums spiritual; that's too easy. Suffice to say that his music comes from a deep place and its transcendental power is very real. |
