Contemporary classical music from Greece inspired by the Dogme 95 movement and the Danish film director Thomas Vinterberg.

Manos Milonakis lives in Thessaloniki, sharing his time between architecture and music. He is a mild and smiling figure of the city, trying to stay creative and positive in the – more or less familiar – difficult times that we face inside the country.

For many years, he was a member of Your Hand In Mine, a multi-instrumental band that released two wonderful records with great success. An interesting blend of instrumental and cinematic music, for the likes of Yann Tiersen, Beirut, Manos Hadjidakis and of course Explosions In The Sky, to name just a few – more popular – related musicians.

After the duet’s split up, Manos Milonakis tried to find out his sound by focusing mainly in theatrical plays, or scoring music for documentaries and videos. He collaborated with quite a few musicians from Greece and Iceland, externalizing an even more cinematic, ambient and neo-classical hybrid of music.

His latest effort is “Festen”, music he composed and recorded for a theatrical adaptation of Thomas Vinterberg’s “Festen”, directed for the National Theatre of Northern Greece by Yiannis Paraskevopoulos and premiered in November 2016. The soundtrack was released a few weeks ago by Moderna Records, a label from Montreal that supports talented artists from around the world.

Atmospheric piano driven tracks, accompanied by cello, viola, violin and guitar, deliver an emotional score of 12 instrumental pieces, with electronic-tinged accompaniments which add greater depth and newness to the final result.

And if you want even more melodic moments in your daily life, listen to his previous EP as well, Sólfar Reworked, that was released in April 2017 and contains the following grey beauty, a seductive melancholic track, re-touched wonderfully by Hior Chronik.

Stream “Festen” LP on Bandcamp.

*

Manos Milonakis on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, Instagram, www.