Areni Agbabian - Bloom review | John Lewis's contemporary album of the month

The Guardian 80

(ECM)
Surrounded by muted piano, gongs and brushed drums, Agbabian’s experimental songs are creepy but tuneful and beguiling

Areni Agbabian is best known as a featured vocalist with the Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan, although her debut for ECM Records is most assuredly not a jazz album. She was born and bred in California, but rarely sounds American: her cut-glass delivery is more akin to a European arthouse singer, and she has certainly absorbed the folk songs and microtonal scales of her Armenian heritage.