Tecoma – City Folk

CD REVIEW –
Tecoma – City Folk by Chris Spencer
This intriguing ep, is a couple of years’ old and an album, Home Brew, has been recorded and released in the meantime.
However this is not a reason why you should avoid purchasing this cd.
Tecoma is a recording name of Amira Pyliotis, who has lived first in Melbourne and more recently Alice Springs.
In March 2006 Amira was a recipient of the APRA professional development award for promising young music writers in the early stages of their careers.
The first track, “A-E-I-O-U” starts off with a snippet of spoken Arabic (I only know that because it tells me on the liner notes) and then moves into a lazy shuffle, with an interesting rhythm.
There’s some handclaps, background vocals – both spoken and sung, and what sounds like flamenco guitar. Amira as well as singing plays trumpet, guitar and uses “modern” techniques such as sampling and sequencing to enhance her sound.
There’s a bit of Oud and Arabic percussion on this track.
On repeated listening, one is able to hear different nuances, of neat unusual sounds.
A muted trumpet introduces track two, “Fear of Heights”.
From a quiet, almost jazzy, beginning with scatty vocals, the song builds up in a crescendo. Amira’s trumpet playing reminds me of VoicePopFoible and the playing of Mark Jackson.
“Sets Low” was recorded live in the ABC studio, and while described as a demo on the slick, it’s a simple yet rhythmic tune.
If it is a demo, perhaps Pyliotis has some further plans to embellish or amend the arrangement at a later date. The final track, “This Constellation”, is probably the strongest track.
It’s an exquisite quiet ballad, with acoustic guitar picking accompaniment and harmony vocals.

I look forward to hearing the full album one day; a very solid first recording, and since Amira has produced the songs herself, a very commendable achievement.