Sailing

SAIL014 Niao – ‘Prayer’ LP/CD $12/$10
Niao consists of vocalist, sampler, and synth composer George Glikerdas and percussionist Gordon Spencer Blaetz based in NY and MA. In May 2011, Glikerdas received his B.A. in music composition and performance from Bard College in NY. Niao’s 2009 debut album titled Clenched Fist garnered substantial media attention for its simple yet powerful technique using minimalist, poly-rhythmic sensibilities while simultaneously producing uniquely “possessive, meditative, spiritual” elements.  Prayer features material from 2010 in a similar, yet more condensed set-up than Clenched Fist. With Prayer, Glikerdas and Spencer-Blaetz created a tighter, more upbeat, groovier and trance-inducing sound than on Clenched Fist, while also maintaining its more meditative moments. Influenced by spiritual music traditions around the world, the sounds produced within Prayer are a transnational fusion and experimentation creating a sound that is refreshing, re-imagining traditional notions of sense of place and identity formation. Throughout Prayer the songs are based around a repetitive sample, sound or rhythm, within which the melodies are written. The minimalist quality is inherent to the meditative element that each song produces.

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