Zura Dzagnidze has mostly released instrumental electronic music recently, but Georgian aficionados will recognize him as a seasoned musician in alternative and acoustic folk music fields. From mid-90s onwards, he has played in some of the most important bands in the country (Afternoon Version, Veli Ulevi) and abroad, also writing music for theatre. This album feels as if he has put all his versatile musical talents, experiences and even personal musical contacts to the best use.
Whole album is top-notch in the songwriting department and is excellently arranged. Sound is electronic, but here the software merely serves as a tool for composer’s expression. Though none of the songs strike at first as particularly catchy, one can’t help but feel astonishing amounts of discrete musical ideas, joined dot by dot with awe-worthy mastery.
Due to this plentitude of components, even overall effect of the album is not easy to analyze: it feels like Peter Gabriel, Portishead, Aphex Twin or James Blake all at the same time, with million shifting senses, impressions and illusions. All in all, out of all Georgian albums released in 2018, it was perhaps this album that left the biggest dent in my subconscious, so I would like to pick “Inside Out” as the record of the year.
♪♫ Listen: “Matches Elegy” + album stream
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