- A dubby, dark odyssey through Persian history told through the lens of contemporary club music with cinematic sound design.
- The Shahnameh—or the Book of Kings—is an epic poem that charts the formation of the Persian nation and identity. Its rich portrayal of history, mythology and folklore inspired the debut EP by Flower Storm, a new project from NTS resident Kasra V and Shaytoon Records' in-house experimentalist Sepehr, that honours their shared roots. Just as the Shahnameh tells the story of pre-Islamic Persia, Yek is an epic of its own: an aural odyssey into a world where Iranian motifs infiltrate global dancefloors.
The EP's biggest strength is its clever world-building. For Flower Storm, Kasra and Sepehr have created an entire sound library made from traditional instruments like the daf (frame drum), tonbak (goblet drum) and santoor (a type of zither), plus snippets from films in Farsi, which they plan to use on all future Flower Storm releases. Fusing techno, electro and drum & bass with recordings of classical Iranian music, Yek seemingly transports listeners to life in a royal palace. Skippy percussion and subby low-end laid over old-world vocals conjure scenes of opulent feasts, dark lairs and backroom deals. Each track is named after characters and episodes from the Shahnameh's English translation and judging by the titles, the duo were particularly taken with the book's details on statecraft and conquests.
In an effort to showcase the real diversity of Iranian music, Flower Storm upend typical electronic music tropes. "Sage's prophecy" packs in various styles throughout its six-minute duration so that it almost feels like three tracks in one. It starts out like classic dungeon techno with barrelling kicks and trance-like vocals, but by the one-minute mark, a bouncy bassline emerges and the vibe veers towards drum & bass before later morphing into dubby ambient.
Elsewhere, the more traditional elements are used like electronic tools. On "This is my court," layered daf and tonbak samples form a junglist rhythm while an operatic melody, likely from the santoor, bellows like a synth. The duo's disruptive approach brings to mind their namesake, a 1972 animation by surrealist painter Ali Akbar Sadeghi that flips a war story into a peaceful tale. In Sadeghi's clip, cannonballs explode into flowers and instead of fighting, the main warriors escape together at the end.
Flower Storm might only have one record under their belt, but it's a clear statement they want to do something totally new, and inspire other people to do the same. "We want to create new musical territories/genres," Sepehr once said of the duo's intentions. Judging by their intricate sampling, complex arrangements and fresh sound design, they're well on their way towards that goal.
Tracklist01. Demon King
02. Sage's prophecy
03. This is my court
04. The evil tyrant has been captured