Pianistic virtuosity, complex harmonies, Armenian-sung melodies, soaring synthesizers, heavy polyrhythms and cinematic atmospheres: all the elements that set Tigran Hamasyan apart from his peers on Shadow Theater (2012) are multiplied tenfold on The Bird of a Thousand Voices, a new album that transcends every genre it taps into.
Inspired by an ancient Armenian legend, the album is presented as the soundtrack to a video game reimagining the myth of Prince Areg. But while only the first track on the album, “The Kingdom,” is really an online game – an advertising strategy, to be sure – the whole album has the cachet of a proper soundtrack. One is struck first by the record’s length, nearly 76 minutes, then by the familiarity of the motifs that recur at every turn throughout the listening experience. Things flow smoothly and follow one another without boredom.
Even more impressive is Hamasyan’s natural handling of his diverse influences. We already knew he was strongly inspired by Armenian and, more generally, West Asian modal melodies, as well as being fond of Meshuggah-style metal and having a solid jazz background. This new album is still all of these things, but their product is an inimitable musical style that makes the Armenian pianist all the more unique in the diverse landscape of contemporary jazz.
Authentic originality is no longer easy to achieve in music, due to the heavy history of innovation against which every artist stumbles. For Tigran Hamasyan, however, the challenge has been met. The Bird of a Thousand Voices is a dynamic and sensitive chiaroscuro album, as heavy as it is rocking, and it’s already raising heads, not just among jazz audiences.
