KAVUS TORABI
Hip To The Jag
(2020 - Believers Roast - UK)

https://kavustorabi.bandcamp.com/album/hip-to-the-jag

A contender for 2020 album of the year, for the something out of the galaxy and away from the commercial muck music seekers. What celestial teapot taxi passengers could discover is a hybrid Steve Hillage/wave blowing offshoots of Roy Harper at his most sky gazing mode/exploring orbits of what Cardiacs and family tree people could and might do/harmonium soaked haunting folk laboratory/La Monte Young/and blissful combinations of 60's psychedelic gardens of Bosch's earthly delights, along with what one could bet Syd Barrett or certainly Tim Smith (who he previously has produce his earlier works such as The Monsoon Bassoon, and who Kavus worked with in Cardiacs at a certain period) would have loved to produce if they could today. I am also sure both giants would cheer this music on.

Very cozy and filled with rainbow melodies, hooks, and floating connective pieces, 'Hip To The Jag' is a masterpiece of mysteries which draw the listener into a soft vortex of loveliness. I'd have to write another six pages to cover all of Torabi's discography but if one only knows about his work with Cardiacs, Knifeworld, Guapo, and Gong, then as guest on dozens of releases by acts such as Karda Estra, North Sea Radio Orchestra, Chrome Hoof, and Bob Drake (there are so many more), then the ear full you get on this, his 2nd official solo release (he did an EP before but this is a full length), will be all that is needed. He performs all instruments (voice, harmonium, guitars, effects, Starsail) on this release except for a spot with Sima Torabi on bells ('Where the Eyeless  Walk').

This album brings forth both the supernatural and the sharing of inner soul searching, along with funny bone taps. There is a sordid spell throughout which no open mind can evade. As crucial listeners hear all these echoes and latitudes, there is scale to be absorbed. One enormous name I must mention is Robert Wyatt. In a most impudent manner, I suggest this brainchild album could be a subconscious epitaph of a last audio present from the true spirits of Mr Robert Wyatt, Daevid Allen, Syd Barrett, and Tim Smith. This is a solid gold mountain of mind bending imagination, and one I feel is all a great credit to Kavus Torabi. Not just brilliant, but gushing with new life, old soul, and magic that only a tiny handful of musicians ever grasp and are able to reproduce. A kind of propulsion that rarely comes your way.

Early birds, depending on the merchant they bought from, got either an autographed cover or signed A5 print of the album cover, along with CD or LP. Kavus did the writing, recording, mixing, and artwork. This is a recording you just need to buy and listen to, rather than me tell you what each song sounds like. Simple as that. GIGANTIC RECOMMENDATION.

  ©Reviewed by Lee Henderson 6 - 13 - 2020)

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