Say It

You can imagine a film to go with this album: vast, sweeping landscapes, travellers in the mist, and among these journeys, the personal reflections that make up a life, from joy to heartache through loneliness, and a search for identity. Bulgarian-Finnish singer Anna Dantchev has created a band who underpin her stories with haunting imagination, guitars, brass and percussion and, often, with silence or the human breath.

Growing up in Bulgaria, Dantchev has the lifeblood of Bulgarian traditions coursing through her veins: the resonance of close-interval vocal techniques, drones, the solemn choral music, and the laments perhaps passed down from her great-grandmother in Bulgaria. There are hints, too, of Varttina-like Finnish runo singing, bewitching spells and female power. And the brass instruments bring resonances of Bulgarian wedding music. The songs are awash with jazz and blues, sometimes full-on and club-like, sometimes intimate, the textures always carefully chosen, rarely overwhelming. Dantchev herself plays the traditional tupan (drum), its hollow eeriness punctuating her narratives. From the hushed prayer ‘Molitva’ to the outpouring of ‘My Happy Song’ this is a glimpse into Dantchev's heart and soul bringing a longing for the listener to experience this music live.