Avi C. Engel’s new album is a superbly put together suite of songs and performances.

Release Date: 8th August 2025

Label: Fenny Compton (Bandcamp)

Format: Digital / CD (Special Edition Bookbound CD or Limited-Edition Standard CD)

PROUDLY INDEPENDENT MUSIC MAKING 

Avi C. Engel’s new album Mote marks another creative step forward, in this artist’s proudly independent music making journey. With successive albums one gets the sense of a musician who never compromises their creative vision, while also seeking out collaborations that will add value and depth to the direction the music might take.

On the new album Avi C. Engel opts for a core acoustic guitar and voice supplemented by acoustic bass, gudok, and percussion. In addition, several guest collaborators add further instruments such as clarinet, melodica, and guitar to selected tracks. This overall creates a musical tableau that is imbued with an engulfing sense of mystery and romanticism. 

Lyrically the album seems to encapsulate a poetical gathering of the mythical and subconscious, threaded by a thoughtful and reflective realism. Together the words and music draw you in and offer a richly engaging and compelling listening experience. 

A SUPERB INTRODUCTION TO THE ALBUM

Opening track Nyx is a very striking piece, with a pulsing rhythm intercut by a chiming acoustic guitar and an exquisite multi-tracked lead vocal. Combined with an almost gothic like lyrical theme, the effect is of listening to a very edgy dream pop composition. It is a simply superb introduction to the album.

Anything Might Happen, that follows on, is a fascinating collage of sounds, where a clipped guitar melody and syncopated percussion, provides the stage for the intriguing musical accents played on the gudok. A stringed instrument played with a bow, that has a very ancient lineage. In an intriguing resonance, I was reminded of John Cale’s electric viola work on the first Velvet Underground album. Lyrically, there is a questioning and seeking tone to the song, perhaps best summed up in the opening verse:

“I can’t read a mind
can’t even pick a lock
what is there to plunder?
just show me what you’ve got”

CONTEMPLATIVE TRADITIONAL FOLK LAMENT

Rip Van Winkle, in contrast, takes the form of a contemplative traditional folk lament. The song’s sense of yearning sagacity is given full flight in the evocative words.  While the gentle repeated melody, played on the gudok, adds in a meditative element, perfectly complementing Avi C. Engel’s hypnotic vocal. 

These opening tracks highlight Avi C. Engel’s uncanny ability to bring together composition, mood, and an imaginative use of instrumentation and voice, to create a unique sound, that takes the listener on a journey into their imagination. The whole album consistently offers that quality of listening experience, but just to highlight some other tracks.

The Night Is Old, featuring clarinet and voice by Tsinder Ash, has a mythical story telling pulse matched by the echoing musical accompaniment. The two voices of Avi C. Engel and Tsinder Ash elegantly blend as one, while also remaining distinctively individual voices.  The title track Mote features Liz Dimo on ‘atmospheric’ acoustic guitar, and has a wistful floating ambiance, where the instruments seem to weave around each other. The effect is quite mesmerising and is an apt context for the poignant lyrics. The middle verse is particularly salient:

“the sea doesn’t know its names
sky falls to earth and rises again
bells bleed and engines burn
what sweetness remains?
the voices of birds”

ATTENTION TO MUSICAL DETAIL, MOOD AND ATMOSPHERE

Without doubt, this album is a superbly put together suite of songs and performances. Where the attention to musical detail, mood and atmosphere, and the integration of words into the music, is quite remarkable. Mote is an album that will stand the test of time, and one which the listener will repeatedly return to like a treasured memory. 

You can view the official video for the album track Nyx here:

 Avi C. Engel: Bandcamp / Facebook / Instagram

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