Filip Bukrshliev Trio – All the Sad Words in the Beggar’s Dictionary (SJF Records, 2023)

 

By Matty Bannond

There’s a potent connection between walking and thinking. On their second album, the Filip Bukrshliev Trio manifests that close link between mind and feet. Melodies move forward with a loping stride and the band’s pace adjusts to the contours of the land. It’s a record that divulges ideas gradually and changes perspective often, while steadily planting one sound in front of the other.

Bukrshliev is a Macedonian guitar player and improviser who’s involved in a striking variety of projects – including Taxi Consilium (reviewed here ). His trio features bassist Andrea Mircheska (who is also in Taxi Consilium) and percussionist Slovcho Kocev. They’re joined by special guest Konstantin Hadzi Kocev on piano and synth. Together, they take a stroll across nine naturally undulating tracks.

Many of those nine excursions follow a similar path. “AWJAHW Redux” is one example. Bukrshliev’s distinctive guitar voice clucks a meandering shape above a solid groove. A moment of metal-rock dawns. Then comes a total drop-out, with guitar improvising while bass and drums add increasingly strident responses before the composed pattern returns.

The album’s opening section is perhaps its most unusual. “I Am Not What You See and Hear” is constructed around a synth-drone that drifts like cloud shadows rolling across a hillside. Kocev’s drumming is sensitive and engaging at all times on this record, but particularly strong here. The guitar scatters glowing droplets of warm light.

“I Give Piano Lessons” is the shortest track and the only one that includes piano. Again, there’s delicate and judicious percussion throughout. The double bass is more prominent and tells a weaving story behind a sparse piano figure until Bukrshliev arrives late to push the velocity higher.

Like much of Bukrshliev’s work, All the Sad Words in the Beggar’s Dictionary is marked by its quirky song titles, but there’s plenty to take seriously on this release. It’s an album that roams over lush and invigorating vistas. With each step, the trio and their guest steer listeners toward fresh ideas and insights by planting one sound in front of the other—and then the next, and the next, and the next.

The album is available as a digital download here .