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Jarguna / Odile Bruckert / Henrik Meierkord — Furrows of Memory
(Projekt 617026236421, 2025, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-12-15

Furrows of Memory Cover art

Positively uplifting, melodic and beautiful; this time out Italian sonic sculptor Marco Billi (a.k.a. Jarguna) has enlisted the help of Swedish cellist / violist Henrik Meierkord and French flutist and vocalist Odile Bruckert for this majestic exercise in the creation of wondrous musical soundworlds that are at once inspirational and filled with emotion. Much like moonlight reflecting off waves, the six pieces at hand shimmer with an otherworldly magic opalescence that quietly calms while enriching the spirit. Meierkord and Jarguna have collaborated previously on the 2020 albums Tapestry Flow and Chimera of a New World, as well as 2022’s Chimera… Session Two and perhaps some others I’m not aware of, so the two have plenty of experience working together. Odile Bruckert is a new name to me, with only a couple previous recordings on the BW Music label from 2008 and 2010, though her everpresent flute and essentially wordless voice (on two tracks) fits into Furrows of Memory perfectly, bringing a certain calmness and melodic color to every piece. The immediate standout among the six tracks is the thirteen minute “Sleeping Among the Rice Fields,” a southeast-Asian flavored epic brought to life via Jarguna’s bells, gongs, wooden mallets and percussives (presumably all via software) along with subtle field recordings, Bruckert’s flutes and vocals, and Meierkord’s subtle strings, every sound gets caught up in the soft, magical swirl of the piece, which evolves slowly over the course of its duration. With the title track, the power of the piece lies in the stunning production, as an array of synth sounds mix with flute and strings in a beautiful sea of studio reverb. Throughout the album the pace is gentle but constantly moving forward without any cadence, one could easily recognize this to be a blend of healing music and spiritual sounds for meditation, though a bit more bold, perhaps. Opening the set is “The First Sunrise I remember,” a piece that shimmers with light and sets the stage for everything that follows, while “Empathic Moment” hovers in a slightly darker, shadowy region, where the flute soars high, cutting through the filaments of night. All taken together, Furrows of Memory is a powerful and immersive experience.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Jarguna (Marco Billi), Henrik Meierkord, Odile Bruckert

More info
http://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/furrows-of-memory

 

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