Blisteringly fast, prog rock-coded oud melodies, a tour-de-force of dumbeg playing, and simultaneously haunting and danceable tunes define the sound of Armenian folk group Armadi Tsayn.
If there’s an equivalent of CBGBs in Armenia, Armadi Tsayn should play there. Brooding, punkish, uplifting, and tender, the band traverses many moods in their debut EP, colliding continents through old-world Armenian sounds and new-world genre-crossing colors.
The original core duo of oud player Samul Sjostedt and dumbeg percussionist Alek Surenian are joined by bassist Filippo Novi-Goller. The sound is given some muscle, with the EP ping-ponging between moody, moshable, and feel-good.
But the EP isn’t all jostling. “Quasar” sounds like if Owl City grew up in Armenia. Nostalgic electronic octaves, a smattering of symphonic strings, and weighty piano chords make “Quasar” a gentle and bittersweet song, favoring simple, tender melodies and innermounting harmonies, underscored by welling strings.
Things ramp up in “Katu.” Surenian switches to a drum kit for a highly syncopated scorcher that verges into math rock territory, with white hot oud lines from Sjostedt that any hair metal guitarist would give away their Flying V to have come up with. The multi-chaptered riffs take traditional Middle Eastern scales and make them headbangable. Guest guitarist Juan Camilo Romano hops on the track with a guitar solo replete with crafty jazz lines. With snappy syncopation and lightfooted arrangement, “Katu,” along with other tunes like “Pleasant Surprise,” demonstrate the band’s sophisticated time signatures, bebop-inflected lines, played at a brisk clip and with a punkish attitude. They’re equally at home at a jazz club as well as a graffitied punk venue.
The instrumental wizardry of Sam Sjostedt is given a spotlight in “Oud Taksim,” a short, modal, mid-EP oud monologue. It’s haunting and earnest desert blues, delivered like free verse poetry. Sjostedt digs into the strings, making them crackle and buzz. He makes the oud sound as much like a percussion instrument as it is a melodic one as improvised lines dart away from you, unspooling in imaginative phrases. “Oud Taksim” is a minute-and-a-half of oud aura farming.
“Fluttering Bird” is an uplifting folk-rock number. As opposed to “Oud Taksim,” Sjostedt’s playing is twinkling, complemented by sprightly interstitial piano from guest pianist Grigori Balasanyan. Surenian, with cantering dumbeg playing, keeps the tune rolling along. Novi-Goller is rock-steady in his melodic bass playing.
Armadi Tsayn have done tours in Armenia, taking their experimentation with the traditional form back to its roots. But with their firm establishment in Boston, they’re continuing the journey of this far-traveled music.