Heart Of Snake & Mira – Chamaerops (MDR082) (LP/Digital)
- Chamaerops pt1 18’10’’
- Chamaerops pt2 16’25’’
ORDER LP/Digital from Bandcamp
out March 21st 2025
Shrouded in mystery just like their magical compositions Torino’s collective Heart Of Snake are joined by Mira for their first release in six years, the enchanted ragged vibration of ‘Chamareops’, a 40 minute opus that just like the cold-hardy palm that lends its name to the album, blends classical guitar, desert folk, meditative exotica and distant island lullabies that withstand the test of time.
Originally led by Vincenzo Marando (Movie Star Junkies, Krano, Similou), Alberto Danzi (I Residenti, oAxAcA) and Cosimo Rosa (Krano), Heart Of Snake have expanded on ‘Chamaerops’ by adding Francesca Colombo aka Mira, violinist and composer based in Rome (member of Il Quadro di Troisi and the Misto Mame collective). The result is a unique voyage into the unknown, beautifully recorded by Paul Beauchamp, an immersive and cohesive listen that resembles a lost Polynesian documentary, a lysergic road trip through sweeping Mediterranean brush lands, lonely shrubs, torrential storms and Appalachian creeks. Divided into two sides, Chamaerops, embodies the melancholy of a lonely plant sitting in an apartment, facing a window where stardust and rays of light gently dangle a promise of an outsider microcosm.
The spirit of Frantz Casseus gently blowing through the reeds is deconstructed through field recordings, kosmische electronics, Haitian waltzes, the submerged quality of Pauline Oliveros’ accordion work and the steel guitar-delia of Santo & Johnny, half-speed-doped up Ry Cooder-ism and the spiritual sorcery of Dorothy Carter’s best work.
Once again Heart Of Snake & Mira deliver an other-worldly soundtrack, a mesmerizing record that hypnotizes as soon as the first sweeping arpeggio kicks in, transforming energies from ancient and distant musical sources into dreams that lives here and now.
