- The Georgian composer makes a dreamy ambient EP based around an Eartha Kitt interview.
- On her 2021 debut album, Mtirala, the Tbilisi-based composer and DJ Ani Zakareishvili wove together sparse electronic tapestries from Georgian folk samples. Her new EP Fallin showcases a similar penchant for loops, but the atmosphere is warmer, the mood more romantic. The record is anchored by clips from a decades-old Eartha Kitt interview, where she lets out a hearty laugh when asked about compromising for love. "A man comes into my life and you want me to compromise?" she retorts. "I fall in love with myself, and I want someone to share it with me." Zakareishvili offers space across these six introspective ambient pieces to reflect on that idea, letting their simple instrumentation conjure a variety of feelings.
One could immediately compare Fallin to the Caretaker's haunting soundscapes. But if Leyland Kirby's works are concerned with deterioration and memory, Zakareishvili wants to construct new, vivid realities. Mtirala recontextualized traditional music in a contemporary setting, and Fallin considers love in all its life-changing possibilities. Reverberating piano appears throughout these tracks, capturing an ecstatic bliss. On the opener "Question," melodies unfold without readily resolving, and these extended passages capture sweet, anticipatory longing. "At First" is a cozy follow-up, and its repeated utterances of the word "love" make the down-home comforts of a long-term romance feel like the stuff of fairy tales.
"Second" brings Fallin into drearier territory, its somber tone and stuttering piano leading to a disjointed structure that embodies heartache. "After" is even bleaker, with its organ-like synths sounding mournful as Kitt's voice creepily echoes. It's as if Zakareishvili is asking one to consider their own understanding of "falling in love" (a phrase we hear Kitt repeat over and over), before you start to feel as doomed as the haunted sample sounds.
Fallin concludes with "Answer," the EP's longest and most beatific song. It has a gentle, dreamy spirit reminiscent of other contemporary Georgian art, particularly the films of director Alexandre Koberidze, pairing floaty elements with pared-down moments of grounding. When it ends with Kitt's explanation from the aforementioned interview, the secret to lasting solace is finally revealed: self-love.
Tracklist01. Question
02. At First
03. Second
04. After
05. Question II
06. Answer