The Sisypheans

Album review

Listen back to Xylouris White's 2014 debut, the mostly instrumental Goats, and you'll hear two guys reveling in the chance to shed their usual roles. Giorgos Xylouris stepped back from the frontman role that he's had for decades in his family's folk band in order to define the music's structure on his lute, and Jim White, a veteran of countless sessions as well as a member of the Dirty Three, showed just how charismatic a drummer can be when he's not dimming his light in order to keep from outshining the boss. Three albums down the road, Xylouris is once more singing the folk songs of his native land. The mythological king Sisyphus was doomed to spend eternity pushing a boulder up a hill over and over again, but the duo has come up with some strategies to keep from being crushed by repetition, and The Sisypheansis as notable for the ways that it differs from its predecessors as it is for the ways in which they stay the course. Still present are White's restless, ever-intriguing accompaniment, and the intriguing sonorities and Aegean melodic contours of Xylouris' lute playing. But Xylouris is a deeply expressive vocalist, articulating blues and beatitudes that transcend any language barrier. And by adding rustic fiddles and harmony vocals to their usual instrumentation, the duo has come up with its most varied and dynamic recording yet. © Bill Meyer / Qobuz