Soundscaping (.NET)

A hibernating collaboration reawakens and is far from sleeping.

October 2007 saw the release of a new EP on the critically acclaimed 12k label based out of New York, signed the label’s owner and none other than Savvas Ysatis – long-time collaborators back in the mid 1990s but since their amicable split the pair have not worked together for over 10 years. Now the audience are graced with the fruits born out of a reborn collaboration, which saw Ysatis leave Greece for the US for a week-long visit and enter the studio with Taylor Deupree to “see what came naturally” after their break.

Prior works from the two have often been born out of concepts or constraints revolving around a certain project, like their mid-90s recordings as SETI, Futique and Arc. This time, the two artists seem to have gone for a direct feel, live performance direct to multi-track with little editing, and recording with microphones for a more spacious feel of room.. and it can be felt, the end result is a luscious 4-track EP which has two instrumental tracks and two semi-vocal tracks, and personally it’s the second and fourth, the two with vocals that stand out as truly seminal here. Ysatis and Deupree are on to a winning formula with a lovely warm organic sound fusing something such as a minimalism and folk, produced by the choice of instruments like acoustic guitars, modest percussive elements and some harp-like sounds and other synthesized goodness, including a Jupiter-8.