We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Small Obstacles

by Zura Zaj

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €5 EUR  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a 6-panel digipak with beautiful artwork by Justina Cesnauskaite.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Small Obstacles via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      €8 EUR or more 

     

1.
Exhale 04:11
2.
Landfall 07:30
3.
Eastbound 04:35
4.
Nigh 03:07
5.
Acres 03:12
6.
Atoll 04:49
7.
Tide 01:55
8.
Still 02:17
9.
Ever 01:22
10.
Alight 03:48

about

"La mer, la mer, toujours recommencėe”
— Paul Valéry, Le cimetière marin

The sea, the sea.
The journey, the waves.
The swell of the tide, the motion of drift.
Time folds back on itself and recommences again, ever changing, ever anew. We catch our breath and steer ahead towards a suggestion of lines on the horizon. Eastbound to where the sun rises, to where the tide caresses island shores, where acres of green stretch ahead. Landfall is nigh, we may alight soon.

Zura Zaj’s journey started ten years ago when three young musicians met in a university orchestra and started tuning their instruments to each other’s tastes and creativity. A Hungarian roommate called it “strange sounds”, or “zura zaj” in the dialect of his home region, and so our name was born. We came together in various living rooms, attics, kitchens, a garden or two, and at times presented our results on stages. Many hours of music were written, improvised, arranged, discarded; a bass player joined and left again; plans were made to record, put on hold and revived, and finally achieved. We moved around, studied, found work, established relationships or ended them; a child was conceived, grew in tune to the album’s recording sessions, and was born during the mixing stages; a marriage will more or less coincide with the release.

Small Obstacles is the outcome of a decade of searching and finding, of overcoming and bonding. The oldest composition on the album (“Tide”) is the very first composition we wrote while the newest (“Acres”) is barely a year old. Some songs were originally written as a fourpiece and later rearranged (“Exhale”, “Atoll”, “Ever”, “Alight”), but all carry the creative touch of our hands, breaths, and bows.

We dedicate this album to Elena, who was an intimate partner of our sonic journey even before she saw our faces.

credits

released May 8, 2018

Zura Zaj is Lieze, Jonathan, and Gowaart
Small Obstacles was recorded in October 2017 by Geert De Waegeneer at Boma Studio, Gent
Mixed by Jonathan Baltussen
Mastered by Uwe Teichert
Artwork by Justina Česnauskaitė
Release by Home Records in May 2018

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Zura Zaj Gent, Belgium

Lieze - Jonathan - Gowaart

Violin - French Horn - Guitar

contact / help

Contact Zura Zaj

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Zura Zaj recommends:

If you like Zura Zaj, you may also like: