As If the Stormy Years Had Passed: The Music of Gurdjieff Reimagined

Hayden Chisholm and Philip Zoubek

Hayden has a book containing many markings and notes collected from "a bespectacled man’s scribbles on a night in Central Asia". The lines have been straightened and the form polished, but the melodic essence of that encounter in Central Asia is preserved. He and Philip have explored the contents of that ragged book for well over a decade, picking out nuggets and turning them inside out in their many improvisations. The melodies etched themselves into their shared musical memory, so that when they play now, these motifs and phrases regularly emerge as new and fantastic forms.

This album is a collection of concentrated works that reflect the qualities, delicacies, and often transcendental spirit that informs this duo’s unique, beautifully poetic musical interactions.

Hayden Chisholm (alto saxophone, kōauau)
Philip Zoubek (prepared piano)

Produced by Hayden Chisholm and Philip Zoubek
Recorded 15/16 July 2021 in Loft Cologne by Stefan Deistler
Mixed by Pedja Avramovic
Mastered by Seán Mac Erlaine at Studio Sáile, Dublin
The cover image is a still from a film by Ed Godsel
Design by UnkleFranc
Printing by Studio Q

1. Pity for One’s Self 04:45
2. Oriental Song 03:26
3. Song of the Molokans 02:40
4. As if the Stormy Years Had Passed 04:27
5. Tibetan Melody 00:57
6. Persian Dance 02:30
7. Women’s Prayer 04:13
8. Song of the Fisherwomen 03:52
9. Laudamus 03:47
10. Greek Melody 02:21
11. Kurd Medley from Isfahan 02:24
12. Greek Melody 2 01:00
13. Hindu Melody 03:02
14. Sayyid Chant and Dance 03:11
15. Readings from a Sacred Book 02:35
16. When Gafar and Zeinab Walk in a Somnambulistic State 03:06