Aram Bajakian’s Kef — Self Titled

According to the Tzadik website, Aram Bajakian’s Kef is a string trio that takes its inspiration from the Armenian dance music that also gives it its name (Kef). The bass, violin and guitars ensemble are led by Aram Bajakian, who plays acoustic and electric versions of the latter of the three. This debut album has twelve tracks of intricate, often concise playing; which often blur composition and improvisation.

Kef play ornate pieces, which, as you can imagine, have an Eastern sound to them; though its a sound often dominated by that most iconic of Western instruments: the electric guitar. Indeed, sometimes - on “Sepastia” or “Sumlinian”, for example - Bajakian has a guitar tone straight out of the classic rock handbook. Listening to it, it struck me how little that guitar sound crops up through my stereo speakers… Bajakian’s guitars cover a wide range of ground throughout the album; from simple acoustic tones, through to crunchy overdriven amp sounds, jazzier tones and more noisy sounds. His playing is mainly conventional, in the sense of it being about notes and chords; here, he has an Eastern sound - though with clear influence from jazz, as well as some overt “rocking” moments. Alas, my ignorance won’t allow me to elaborate any further on “Eastern”; though if you look at a map, you will see that Armenia is bordered by Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia - and that should give you an indication of the kind of harmonies you might hear. Certainly “Wroclaw” has that melting-pot type sound you might associate with eastern-european music. Whilst Bajakian’s playing is predominantly “straight”, and refreshingly so, there are moments where he uses more extended techniques, as well as pedals. On “Pineta”, his guitar sounds like a noisy thumb piano, “48 Days” sees it droning with an e-bow, “La Rota” brings a psychedelic chorus effect to his background picking and “Raki” sees Bajakian employing delay effects and still maintaining his dignity - not always an easy task!

I’m speaking as if Bajakian is the prime focus here, but a fair amount of his time is spent providing a background for his fellow musicians (the violinist, Swafford, in particular) to play over. When not shadowing or supporting Bajakian’s lines, Swafford scrapes away in a similarly Eastern/jazzy vein to the group leader; with equally similar slips between melody and discordancy. Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, playing bass, has a wonderful anchoring role; providing the accents and rhythmic backbone that you might have had from percussion. Of course, its impossible to hide in a trio, and all three players handle group and individual responsibilities with assured aplomb.

The debut album from Aram Bajakian’s Kef is a good collection of solid tracks, with structure and improvisation beautifully balanced. In particular, the conciseness of the pieces helps to maintain a tight focus to the album as a whole; and not a track outstays its welcome. The playing of the trio is rigorous, but never too stretched; resulting in a discipline that allows both group and individual to shine. It could be argued that some of the pieces are a little basic, structurally (“theme, solo, theme” etc); but this does also keep them close to their folk-form inspirations. I would never presume to tell a band what to do, but I’ll admit that I’d love to hear Aram Bajakian’s Kef play with a percussionist. It would be a more conventional affair, but I think it would tear the roof off…