On The Wing
Released
For his 17th ECM album, multi-instrumentalist and world traveler Stephan Micus turns his dedicated attention to a handful of reed instruments, including the Iraqi mudbesh, the Egyptian nay, the shō (Japanese mouth organ), the Balinese suling, and the Burmese hné. With these tools, he builds a 10-story temple of peaceful gradations. Sounds connect the dots to a range of geographical influences, from Scandinavia to the Far East, but always with a tender sincerity. The contradiction of this music is its ability to offer us shelter after a long journey even as it sends us on our way for another.