- The Sisypheans is the fourth album from the duo known as Xylouris White, consisting of George Xylouris on Cretan lute and vocals alongside drummer Jim White (perhaps most notably of The Dirty Three, but also a frequent collaborator with artists such as Will Oldham and Cat Power). This record is the first to follow on from the act's opening trilogy of records: Goats, Black Peak and last year's Mother. That said, this is still a record drawn very much from the same cloth, albeit with a few new wrinkles. Much like the previous records, The Sisypheans was produced by Fugazi's Guy Picciotto, who've they've continuously recorded with throughout their existence to apparently amass a vault of recordings that number in the hundreds. Xylouris White had their thing down right from the get-go: droney, somewhat psychedelic folk drawing equally from traditional Cretan and modern improvisational musics, and The Sisypheans continues down the same path set out previously, just pairing things down a bit.
The record is loosely themed around the Greek mythological story of King Sisyphus, condemned to push a boulder up a hill for eternity. Xylouris White have turned the story on its head though, not looking at Sisyphus as a tragic figure but one of exploration: Jim White states “George saw him carrying the rock in different ways, in his left hand, behind his back, pushing it with his head while crawling and noticing each journey the seasons changing, the grass and the insects... I found it fit in with a long held set of thoughts I’d had, that if one concentrated activity and thought enough on one thing it would expand and be a whole world”. The Sisypheans is, therefore a description of the duo – two musicians dedicated to a set of acts repeated to infinity, the same but subtly different every time, rolling songs over in their hands and minds to explore every possible permutation of the same set of notes and rhythms.
Xylouris sings in his native tongue, and while his lyrics are appropriately poetic upon translation, knowing the exact words being sung is not crucial to enjoyment of the music. The emotion is intrinsic to the delivery. Instead of focusing on the words, and maybe getting distracted by them, they form an emotional core that is woven into the surrounding instrumentation, becoming a crucial but equal partner to the lute and percussion.
The Sisypheans opens with a slow burning statement of intent with the meditative seven minute opener Tree Song and the abstract instrumental Goat Hair Bow (where Xylouris plays his lute with exactly that – a bow made of goat hair). Much of the record is more reflective than previous albums, and Jim White often relegates himself to simple timekeeper or background texture, seldom unleashing the flurry of percussion that has become his trademark, although that does appear in a few instances on the record, most notably on Black Sea and closer Ascension. Even when the band amp up the volume and tempo a bit, things remain loose and somewhat sombre – there's nothing as energetic as, say, Mother's Only Love. Because of that it's perhaps not as fun as prior records, but that doesn't mean it isn't just as compelling. If the record was to be compared to White's other main band, The Dirty Three, it would be their Ocean Songs – comparatively quiet, dedicated to a singular mood, and confident that not only is that enough, but that in the right hands and in the right environment, it can become transcendent.
- Cameron Smith.