Maya’s Night
"This album started with me trying to create a soundtrack for the film 'Very Eye of Night' by Maya Deren.
Afterwards, I decided to create an album with each track as a different scene for an imaginary film called “Maya’s Night”.
Without a specific narrative it follows the adventures of Maya through her memories and dreams. Main instruments used were Prophet 08, Waldorf Blofeld, Yamaha Reface CS and Vector synthesizers with field recordings."
Credits
・Written and produced by Isik Kural
・Album cover by Emer Tumilty
Tracklisting:
- After a Swim
- Two Divers
- December, January
- Rosemary
- Dialogue
- Maya’s Night
- Celestial Charts
- Winter in a Cassette
Isik Kural
Isik Kural is a songwriter from Istanbul who enjoys ambient synths and field recordings. His debut album “as flurries” came out on Italian cassette label, Almost Halloween Time Records in 2019. Isik currently lives in Glasgow.
Reviews
Now Then
Originally from Istanbul and now residing in Glasgow, Kural’s second album, Maya’s Night, is his first with Sheffield-based experimental label Audiobulb. Developed as different scenes for an imaginary film of the same title, each track on Maya’s Night provides a slightly differently arranged but equally lovely moment of escape. A collection of brief and dreamy abstractions, this is an album of soft and comforting respite.
The aforementioned childish virtue is most notable on the twinkling synths that lead tracks like ‘December, January’, ‘Rosemary’ and ‘Celestial Charts’, which call to mind the similarly minimal and naive wonder of Disasterpiece’s soundtrack for indie videogame FEZ. Occasional strands of warm piano add a soft, human element to some of the tracks, with opener ‘After a Swim’ taking on something of a Sigur Rós vibe when the melody joins the softly radiating ambience.
The longer title track is the most spacious affair. Dropping a small melodic idea into a vast, cooling pool of atmospheric sound, Isik Kural invites us to sit and listen to the ripples come back to us again and again in a gently hypnotic and meditative fashion.
Maya’s Night certainly doesn’t break any moulds for ambient or experimental music, but it sits perfectly amongst the light and heartening side of the genre, and it may well be just the tonic you need.
Link to original article > HERE
A Closer Listen
But what if one lives in the Southern Hemisphere, or doesn’t want to leave the cold? We recommend Maya’s Night by Isik Kural, whose twinkling sound decorate tracks like “January, February” and “Winter in a Cassette.” Kural’s last album was titled as flurries, so we detect a theme.
Link to original article > HERE
Silence and Sound
Maya’s Night was born out of a desire to compose music for the short film Very Eye Of NIght by experimental director Maya Deren. Isik Kural got caught up in the game and decided to take it a step further, to write songs for an imaginary film bearing the title of the album.
The Turkish composer based in Glasgow delivers a dreamy snapshot, made of soap bubbles and dancing sparks, revealing an aerial world of sweet traveling melancholy, coated with almost childish naivety.
Maya’s Night amazes the senses, ripples on xylophone stars and rainbow pianos. The notes are deposited with humility on colors spread with simplicity. Minimalism is part of the DNA of each title, taking different forms while respecting some form of continuity.
Isik Kural dresses the images he imagines with melodies dancing on balancing peaks, he lets his music float in a weightless cosmos, releases quiet forces to invade with their peaceful waves, imaginary stories connected by a force greater than comprehension. Magic.