Eyvind Kang – The Narrow Garden

Traveling with Eyvind Kang

The Narrow Garden is a journey into nature. For about forty minutes, Eyvind Kang takes the role of a troubadour from the Middle Ages and plays the notes of Mother Earth for his court. He gathers thirty other musicians from all over the world and celebrates with them the beauty of waterfalls, birds, thunderstorms, and rain. The ethnical diversity characterizes both musicians and music: eastern rhythms and melodies, and western voice lines and ballad forms influence the work. The landscape Kang describes is cold and barely contaminated; with lash vegetation, intense colors, and myriad species of animals.

The album starts with the sound of waterfalls that slowly turns into the dance of nature. Simple repetitive melodies in triple time suggest peace and tranquility. In transition to the second track, “Pure Nothing,” Eyvind Kang reproduces the verse of birds flying in the sky and, again, transports the listener into a natural environment. The music lines harmonize together into the design of an imaginary vista and, magically, the sun shines on green hills, while eagles fly over an icy pond.
Lighthearted melodies also alternate with harsher tracks as to represent the cycle of seasons. In “The Narrow Garden” the music builds up on dissonances until the tension crashes into thunderstorm and rain. As “Invisus Natalis” starts, the listener is transported right away to the land of gypsies and snake charmers. By the end of the song the strings rise with suspense and percussion reproduces the sound of a rainstorm.

Throughout the record, Eyvind Kang sets the mood of each track associating it to natural manifestations. He takes us on a brilliant excursion into the joy of nature’s awakening and the anxiety of thunderstorms and rain; jovial ballads versus the disturbance of dissonant strings. Each song is an engaging experience; some might sound very raucous, but are indispensable elements to the balance of life.