Yagull: Kai

Yagull is Sasha Markovic (guitar, bass, percussion) and Kana Kamitsubo (piano). The Japanese pianist and Serbian guitarist are based out of New York and have a new album titled Kai, their debut for MoonJune Records. Yagull's last album Film was quite enjoyable.

The duo is joined by quite a few guests including Marko Djordjevic (drums, percussion), Dewa Budjana (guitars) and Wen Chang (violin).

There are twelve songs on offer including a couple of reworked tracks from Films and two rock classics; Free's "Wishing Well" and Deep Purple's "Burn". The former is a beautiful amalgamation of acoustic guitar, piano and violin while the latter opens with Beledo's classically inspired lute solo and continues with Markovic's jaunty acoustic rhythms and Kamitsubo's bouncy piano lines. It is here the original melody comes to fruition. The piano solo from Kamitsubo is superb.

My personal favourite is "Omniprism" which begins with a lovely piano melody and subtle sound effects, before a repeating acoustic rhythmic guitar pattern is solidified. The piano notes become more forceful emphasizing the rhythms. The atmospheric chords have a mid '70s Pink Floyd feel and the acoustic guitar solo is another highlight. This is definitely the proggiest song.

The gentle "Oyasumi" ends the album with slowly evolving lyrical chords of guitar and piano.

Yagull takes elements of folk, classical and chamber music and molds it into a delectable acoustic collage of melody and subtle nuance. Kai is another winner that deserves your attention.

Track Listing:
1. North (5:29)
2. Dark (6:56)
3. Heiwa (3:14)
4. Blossom (5:03)
5. Mio (5:16)
6. Wishing Well (4:35)
7. Burn (3:51)
8. Sound Of M (4:27)
9. Z-Parrow (1:47)
10. Kai (4:01)
11. Omniprism (5:38)
12. Oyasumi (1:55)

Added: January 14th 2015
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Official Site
Hits: 3041
Language: english

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