image courtesy of Dog Ranch Music PR

Album Review of Itamar Erez & Hamin Honari: Migrant Voices

As you know if you’re a regular reader, I like a good instrumental album from time to time. Well, Israeli guitarist Itamar Erez and Iranian percussionist Hamin Honari deliver a great one with Migrant Voices. Erez and Honari met through the Vancouver music scene and have performed together in and around British Columbia. They applied for a Canada Council grant to record this album.

Itamar Erez; photo by Diane Smithers; photo courtesy of Dog Ranch Music PR

On Migrant Voices, Erez and Honari combine Erez’s softly meandering, often rhythmic strumming and picking with Honari’s broad array of percussion sounds and beats to create a nifty jazz collection that would be equally at home in a theater setting or at a venue with more of a coffeeshop vibe. In a personal setting, the Migrant Voices album is equally suitable as music for relaxing after a stressful day, music in the background to help feed a bit of relaxation into a stressful day, or in a number of other situations.

Hamin Honori; photo courtesy of Dog Ranch Music PR

The title track, “Migrant Voices,” was the only song that was pre-written before the album was recorded. The rest of the songs were “freely improvised without a plan” while in the recording studio, though the artists note that “Forgotten Sands,” while it began as an improvisation, was honed by recording several versions and includes some overdubs. Of course, as the end result is such an enjoyable listen, it seems like a solid artistic choice, just as years of practice and years of performing together by Erez and Honari served as the basis of their improvisation in the first place.

From the steady progressions of “Migrant Voices” to thoughtful use of open space during transitions in “Embrace” and the artistic intertwining of the instruments through out the album, Migrant Voices remains relatively hushed in tone, which is why it’s a great companion for such a variety of experiences, from thoughtful, in-depth listening to accompanying other activities. Throughout, this record is an intriguing listen and an excellent addition to any music collection.