Tuomi - Expense Of Spirit

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  • If you thought Stefan Goldmann's last 12-inch on Macro was strange, try Tuomi on for size: they're a Finnish/Portuguese/German experimental jazz trio that sets Shakespearean sonnets to tinkling piano and double bass. But while the group is very much an acoustic venture, Stefan Goldmann's production on these reworks from their 2007 album entitled The Expense of Spirit are (mostly) geared to the floor. On the title track, Goldmann takes the group's spare backing to Finnish chanteuse Kristiina Tuomi's half-recitation/half-sung version of Shakespeare's Sonnet 132 and undergirds it with a fat, insistent synth bass. It's nearly all the propulsion that the track requires for much of its length (as the B-side dub confirms), but it's joined by a simple piano and some keening strings that maintain the acoustic quality of the original version. The miniature coda to 'The Expense' and 'Mourning Eyes' are floor-friendly per se, although they might more comfortably fit into Goldmann's challenging Macro radio show. 'Mourning Eyes' seems to gather up a cloud of whispers into an ambient mist before giving Tuomi the chance to do her thing almost completely a cappella, aside from some moody strings, before once again launching back into a rattling, shimmering morass of dub-inspired madness. I love it, but I also don't ever want to see anyone trying to dance to it. Even so, the sentiment is a smart one. Put a banger on the A-side and sneak in some art on the flip. Drunk DJs might even accidentally cue up 'Mourning Eyes' and give the masses a taste of the experimental. I get the sense that Goldmann wouldn't mind it a bit.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Expense Of Spirit A2 Expense Miniature B1 Mourning Eyes B2 Expense Dub
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