"There is a person who collects sand. This person travels the world and – on arrival at a sea shore, the banks of a river or a lake, or a desert, or wasteland – gathers a handful of sand and take it away."
Italo Calvino's essay Collection of Sand is the inspiration for Thodoris Ziarkas's debut trio album, which embarks on a sonic storytelling of miniature landscapes, each revealing the variations found within the grains of sand. The compositions, with their minimalist nature, draw a parallel journey to an anthology of sands and explore a contemplative space where minimal differences unfold with quiet intensity.
The pieces were a practice of how to be receptive to the momentum within the creative process. They are a personal diary or a ritual—a way of being able to reflect on and give these encounters new forms and shapes.
Gizem Altinordu: Percussion
Oliver Dover: Clarinet / Bass Clarinet
Nikos Ziarkas: Cretan Lute
Thodoris Ziarkas: Double Bass / Lyra
Recorded by Tim Thomas at St. Mary's Tower, Hornsey, London.
Mixed by Tim Thomas
Mastered by George Botis at DADA Studios, Athens
Photography by Cadhla Kennedy Ko
Released by GBD Records -January 2024
