Toronto and London-based experimental group The Flowers of Hell will release their new Keshakhtaran LP via UK label Space Age Recordings. The single “Foray Through Keshakhtaran” has also been released ahead of the album, which involves 20 artists, including Rishi Dhir (Elephant Stone, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, Beck) on sitar, Montreal harpist Sarah Pagé, and NYC accordionist Angel Corpus Christi (Suicide, Spiritualized, Dean Wareham). The LP was mastered by Grammy winner Peter J. Moore (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Joe Strummer).
For Record Store Day (UK), Space Age Recordings will also release a deluxe first vinyl LP pressing of the band’s Odes album, which had support from Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed upon release.
The new album is an instrumental journey in two 20-minute parts and the word “Keshakhtaran” is an urban dictionary term for “seeking nirvana through meditation to sound, especially when you’re stoned.” The two tracks feature sax, flugel horn, chimes, harp, sitar and opera soprano vocals, and are augmented with tremolos, flutters, horns, woodwinds, strings and percussion.
Greg Jarvis shares:
Keshakhtaran began as a 40 minute ‘space guitar’ piece I’d done out of bits and bobs I’d been playing in my home studio for a girlfriend to meditate to in the months before Covid. During the pandemic, I found I couldn’t write anything new (nothing in, nothing out), but I pulled out the guitar track and started sending it to caged up band members and friends to add layers to, and soon I was mixing and editing away, creating a sonic world to escape off into.
With massages being some of the only human contact allowed in Toronto at the time and with one of my bandmates being a masseuse, I’d go in and test the mixes while over-micro dosing on mushrooms for a truly immersive experience that transported me from the bleak times. I’d then play the work-in-progress for bandmates in my ‘semi outdoor contact’ garage that I’d converted into a psychedelic shack with a lightshow and a fog machine, tweaking things until it reached its final form that you’ll hear.
The full Keshakhtaran LP will be released digitally on May 12th, 2023 with the vinyl LP (including an inserted bonus CD featuring a reworking of the piece by Sonic Boom) to follow in late 2023.
TRACK LIST
Side A – Keshakhtaran (Part 1) 21:50
Side B – Keshakhtaran (Part 2) 20:26
Bonus Inserted CD:
Sonic Boom’s Trip To Keshakhtaran
Foray Through Keshakhtaran
Keshakhtaran (Stone Age Version)
