Were it not for Blue Lake's Jason Dungan contacting us a month or so ago, we'd have most likely missed this record entirely. That might be a consequence of our ignorance, though it is unusual a work as striking as this seems to have floated under the radar of most. Recorded at an artists' residency in Andersabo, Sweden, Stikling is Dungan's third record under the Blue Lake moniker, a four song suite of astonishingly poised and evocative compositional work build around a 48 string zither and various drones constructed from organ, clarinet and piano. The zither seems like the key element here, such a tonally rich instrument that always feels deeply suggestive and mysterious. This is undeniably pretty music - i've never been to Andersabo, but through these sounds there builds a picture of a natural world utopia of babbling brooks, lush greens and harmonious animal life: clearly, this isn't the same Sweden of Gothenburg, or that of xKatedral. And it's also deeply skilled and intuitively impressive music, too, finding some kind of kindred connection with the cerebral-meets-spiritual union of Laaraji, Ellen Fullman and Michael O'Shea. Undoubtedly the real deal, and few records will get close to this in 2022. Edition of 200, soon to be all gone.
Please note - copies have slight seam splits, price reduced to reflect.
