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After one listen to the heart-stopping new record «Dalmak» by Esmerine, fans will realize this is not the Montreal band of old, the simple duo of marimba player Bruce Cawdron (Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Triple Burner) and cellist Rebecca Foon (Silver Mount Zion, Saltland) who dabbled in tortured songs of experimentalism, from the avant-garde to the neo-classical in their early beginnings more than a decade ago. Nor is this the collective (that featured Patrick Watson, Andew Barr, Sarah Pagé, Colin Stetson, Sarah Neufeld) brought together in honor of their dearly departed friend and collaborator Lhasa on 2011’s La Lechuza, a loving homage to one of this city’s brightest and best.
What we have circa now is a quartet rounded out by multi-instrumentalists Jamie Thompson (Unicorns, Islands) and Brian Sanders, two musicians who first surfaced as touring arms, and who played their way into what can only be described as one of Montreal’s most unique musical entities. «Dalmak» takes the listener on a journey around the world, starting with its heart in Istanbul, where much of the record was laid to rest during an artist residency alongside a mirror quartet of Turkish players – Hakan Vreskala, Baran Aşık, Ali Kazim Akdağ, James Hakan Dedeoğlu on various instruments. Count your blessings as these folk will be present for the handful of Canadian launch shows this month.
