Andrew Duncan
Reza Safinia
Yang
Music + Texture
Links: Official Site | Facebook
Living my life as a Libra, I am hypersensitive to the concept of balance. It’s what drives me—that sense of stability in nature and the balance in life. Ying and Yang is something I find appealing.
Reza Safinia thought intently about the structure in Chinese cosmology. The Ying, his expressive post-classical compositions of intimate thought through piano compositions, became the focal point to this aural philosophical project.
His newly released Yang is science fiction. There is a lot going on in these songs, meaning most songs border ten minutes in length. An extraterrestrial electronic expanse, Safinia extrapolates an epic driven by arpeggiators (“Shiva” and “Vitruvian,” for example) and outer space underground dance sway (“Funkbible”)—think Luke Slater. Safinia pushes the extremes through his synth sound bank while also giving hints of the balance by bringing in pianos and post-classical idealism into the mix. Will there be a third release to clearly identify this balance, or will he slyly confuse the concept of the “yang” through extremes? Safinia loves to play with sound levels and through his film work, he is able to reach a higher level.
Reza Safinia—”Yantra”
His experience working in film gives him a push to drive emotives and music through scene conception. He builds a story through sound, and it’s sometimes beautiful, magnificent, and even brooding through downtempo drive. Meditation breathes meditation, this is how Safinia wants you to interpret both albums just with different mindsets. For him, these songs are surrounded by his environment and a connection to humanity and nature pushing that lust for life in a cyber environment. We experience everything through the lens of enlightenment.
“Tantra” becomes an out of body experience, that point of mental realization. Safinia is confident in this trip-hop exodus and in itself, it becomes the yang to the album’s introductory yin (“Yantra”).
There is so much going on in Yang that it is not a simple experience. You have to commit to Safinia’s sound relationship, explore within the depths of his sound collages, and soak up the influences that range from soul to glam rock. If you feel like you are standing on the surface, go back in and listen again. The balance lies within.
Tracklist:
- Yantra
- Watercolor
- Shiva
- Eddy
- Dream
- Vitruvian
- Prana
- Shushumna
- Helix
- Funkbible
- Tantra