Review of Human Cocoon: Middle Eastern Classical to American Minimalism

Born in Busan, Turkey, trained in Warsaw, and based in New York City since 2016, Beyza Yazgan is a pianist who brings together a multitude of influences in her work. Her compositions merge Middle Eastern classical music with Chopin’s Romanticism, French impressionism, American minimalism, and jazz. She began writing her recent album, Human Cocoon, in 2023 as a response to the devastating earthquakes on the Syria-Turkey border. This album, she explains, served as a way to handle “the cacophony of unresolved emotions and existential questions.”

Erik Satie’s influence is evident in pieces like Old Things and Memories and Güzel Güzel. There’s even a clear tribute to Satie’s Gymnopédies in a playful waltz titled Gnomepedes (in Satie’s garden). However, Yazgan draws from a wide range of reference points. In Pasaj, she showcases a shimmering rendition of Philip Glass-style minimalism. The Immortal Machine captures the thrilling motorik chaos reminiscent of Conlon Nancarrow. Some of her more experimental solos, such as All Gone (02.2023, Türkiye) and Cool Burning, evoke the improvisational style of Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert.

Yazgan’s previous album, 2021’s To Anatolia, reimagined mid-20th-century classical pieces by the pioneering composers known as “the Turkish Five.” Human Cocoon similarly borrows from the maqam scales used in Turkish traditional music. The slightly dissonant flattened fifths of the opening track, Question, bring a spooky, Bach-like quality to the melodies.

Among the album’s most moving pieces is Haiku Tune. Here, Yazgan hums a simple major-key melody over slow, emotive piano chords and single notes. Even when she’s at her most uncomplicated and unaffected, her ability to draw profound emotion from simplicity is unmistakable.

Also notable this month is a release from jazz saxophonist Damian Dalla Torre, whose album I Can Feel My Dreams (Squama Recordings) barely features any saxophone. Inspired by field recordings of nature from his time as an artist in residence in Chile, Dalla Torre brings together an international ensemble to create nine dream-like meditations, blending jazz and ambient music. The album is detailed enough to rise above the New Age label and stands as a strong contender for album of the year, drawing comparisons to collaborations between Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders, as well as Jon Hassell’s Fourth World explorations.

Elori Saxl, based on a small island in Lake Superior, merges laptop-based 21st-century explorations with the tactile and playful avant-gardism of earlier generations. Drifts and Surfaces (Western Vinyl) includes two lengthy, immersive pieces of richly textured drone-based electronica, followed by a soothing piece of electro-acoustic chill-out music featuring Henry Solomon on baritone sax and Robby Bowen on glass marimba.

Helen Leach’s Diary of a Bee (Divine Art) offers a contrasting collection of nature-inspired chamber pieces. The Scottish borders-based clarinettist, composer, and church music director presents delightful neoclassical whimsy, baroque tributes, and nods to Robert Burns. The standout piece is Letters from the Owl House, a solo for cellist Jennifer Langridge that taps into the pastoral longing reminiscent of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending.

Source: The Guardian, Spotify, Squama Recordings, Western Vinyl, Divine Art