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Release Date: 18 September 2026
Label: Earshift Music
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 9324690443819
Genres: Jazz Contemporary
Description
Experience an enchanting collaboration of Armenian folk, jazz, and contemporary sounds in Awakening - the luminous album by Visions of Nar. Recorded at the Australian Chamber Orchestra's stunning Pier 2/3 Studios, Awakening weaves transcendent beauty, dynamic interplay, and hypnotic rhythm into a spellbinding musical journey. Led by pianist Zela Margossian and saxophonist Jeremy Rose, with guests Hilary Geddes (guitar) and Bobby Singh (tabla), the album radiates warmth, renewal, and a sense of rebirth - a celebration of new beginnings.
Building on the success of their debut Daughter of the Seas (ABC Jazz), Awakening expands Visions of Nar's sonic realm. Across ten pieces - from the ethereal title track Cri de Coeur, to the deeply emotive Sweet Sorrow and the fiery, rhythmically charged Eat Chaos - the ensemble draws on Armenian modes, jazz improvisation, and electronic textures. The music conjures both intimacy and vastness, inviting the listener into a world where improvisation and composition, tradition and innovation, coexist. "This project has always been about connection," says Rose. "Between cultures, between genres, and between musicians. Awakening captures that spirit - it's music that searches for light."
At its core, Awakening continues the band's mission to weave cultural narratives through music. Inspired by the Armenian goddess Nar - deity of water, sea and rain - the music channels cycles of renewal and transformation. It's a kaleidoscopic work: deeply personal yet universal. Critics have praised the group as "transcendent beauty, remarkable interplay, shimmering with crystalline prose and profound intimacy" (Fine Music), and "beguiling beauty, spellbinding and hypnotic" (Rhythms Magazine). Awakening builds on this legacy - an album that evokes both hope and reflection.
"Demonstrates the illustrious capacity of jazz to provide the freedom necessary for musicians to express themselves in new ways." - **** 1/2 The Australian, Eric Myers
"A space that sonically and stylistically lay entirely outside of idiom." - Sydney Morning Herald, John Shand
Tracklisting
The Vampires
Elysian Fields
Vazesh
Kristin Berardi
The Vampires
Trichotomy
Matthew Ottignon
Visions of Nar
Visions of Nar
