Description
In times of pain, musicians become nurses of the soul: tending to wounds, bonding deep scars and whispering quiet words of gentle hope amidst the gale. Kristi Stassinopoulou and Stathis Kalyviotis' music offers salve to their home country Greece: a place that has worn many bruises these last years.
Kristi and Stathis' called their album 'Nyn' which means 'Now' in Ancient Greek. The title sums up the central message, to live in the here and now. Not to ponder the uncertain future or to indulge in fuzzy nostalgia-laden memories of a once glorious past. The album closes with a choir of friends singing 'All things come and go...so passes life'. A meditative prayer sung true.
The idea of 'nowness' is heard in Kristi and Stathis' musical mix too. They draw from tradition lacing their offering with Greek traditional folk, rebetika and modal Byzantine chanting, then they kickback, pumping psychedelic rock, punk, contemporary electronica and other far-ranging sounds through the main artery of their sound. Their sound is 'Greekadelic, make no mistake.
With 'Nyn' Kristi and Stathis offer up a musical manifesto for their times. Their message is to be mindful, to live in the present, to seize the day not rue the last. What Kristi and Stathis do so well is harness this mantra and realise it both lyrically and musically. Within every rising scale, heart-beat tempo and huskily sung line we hear their incantation.