Petrolia is a welcome musical tonic in a time of ever widening global division, a style that marries East and West, two sides that are seen more and more as disparate elements.
There are some labels you can set your watch to. Styles, sounds and quality as constant as the north star. Then there are those that are totally unpredictable, those that fly in the face of trends and strike out on their own. Marmo Music fits into this category.
Stefan Schwander has always approached musical production as a maverick. The Swedish artist has carved out a crazily productive career over the last twenty years and turned his capable hand to a smorgasbord of sounds and styles. One of his most daring monikers is Harmonious Theolonius, a pseudonym that has graced Kontra Musik, Emotional Response and now Marmo with an intoxicating blend of tribal rhythms and exotic aromas.
Schwander has a wandering ear, employing instruments and melodies from far and wide. Petrolia is rooted in the allure of the Middle East. The slow dreamy funk of “Disko Marak” introduces the mini LP. From quite a straight forward rhythm a journey through a bazaar of strange and seductive scents, shapes and sounds unfurls. Horns and strings bend and bellow against a tapestry of textures and tones. At the core of many of the compositions is a firm bedrock of drums, layers of hi-hats, kicks and toms are filmed in a snaking smoke of strings. The title piece is emblematic of this. Steady metronomic beats are the basis from which wafts of noodling woodwind spirals ascend in fluttering ribbons. “Nous n’avons jamais” adopts a different style. Rich percussive patterns are bewitched with snippets of chants and thick bass lines to produce an entrancing effect. There are also more playful and experimental pieces scattered on the album, the claustrophobic “Just Playing” and the whimsical “Tres Diamantes” showing another side of Harmonious Theolonius ‘music.
In many ways Petrolia is an older sibling of Charanjit Singh’s Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat. Whereas Singh was turning electronic machines to Indian traditions and weaving ancient strands with new technology, Harmonious Theolonius is drawing on the mysticism and mystery of the Persian and Ottoman Empires to create audio soundscapes with a modern twist. Petrolia is a welcome musical tonic in a time of ever widening global division, a style that marries East and West, two sides that are seen more and more as disparate elements.
Petrolia is available on Marmo Music.
