TIGRAN HAMASYAN - Mockroot

The history of music lives and thrives on the passion and insight of those who know how to put their talent into practice, feeding a spark that sooner or later blazes up and illuminates still-unexplored paths. The energy of Armenian enfant prodige Tigran Hamasyan is capable of sweeping away everyone and everything in its path: within the jazz circle – admittedly far too narrow a scene – his "free song" at the piano has bewitched not only a packed audience but even the masters themselves (and we're talking about the Corea-Hancock-Mehldau trimurti). From his fellow countryman Serj Tankian to Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu, his collaborations attest to an enviable charisma and stylistic adaptability, considering we're talking about a 27-year-old. Already on his sixth solo outing, Hamasyan rightfully joins the roster of the venerable Nonesuch.

Among his main musical inspirations is, by his own admission, thrash metal and the "alternative" fringes of the macro-genre, from Tool to Meshuggah: a fact that comes as no surprise once we see and hear just how forcefully – yet always with extreme precision – Hamasyan attacks the ivories, constantly balancing the solidity of low-register chords with richly tasteful coloring, one that doesn't shy away from Jewish influences reminiscent of Zorn-esque tunes in the hands of Uri Caine.

But anyone familiar with the boldest progressive frontiers won't fail to notice the thrilling rhythmic and melodic kinship with the zeuhl gospel of Magma: the interplay between Hamasyan and the excellent drummer Arthur Hnatek – slightly shortchanged in the mix – is the element that makes it impossible to look away from the more aggressive tracks, which really do come close to a refined transcription of nu-metal riffs. Christian Vander's alien melodic universe thus meets the folk songs of Armenia, a heritage expressed most directly in the two reworked traditionals, "Kars".

This avant-garde streak is counterbalanced by some more lyrical moments: the instrumentals "To Love" and "Lilac" are infused with neoclassical delicacy, while the vocalizing and slow pace of "The Roads That Bring Me Closer To You" recall the wastelands of the latest These New Puritans. These are far from negligible episodes, but they inevitably end up feeling like "filler", overshadowed by the flair and explosive enthusiasm of the main tracks – seeds of a hybridization that could, in the future, yield even more ambitious and surprising results.

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19/05/2015