Stockholm-based composer Shida Shahabi returns with her sophomore album, Living Circle – a wonderfully rich and accomplished new work that resonates with a powerful depth and viscerality. Where the warm, homespun piano of her 2018 debut, Homes, drew widespread praise and announced her arrival as a bold new voice, Living Circle sees the artist pushing forwards into deeper, more expansive sonic realms. With tracks stretching longer and slower, and her piano lines less ornate and dominant, Living Circle is a heavyweight album and a must-hear for fans of Stars Of The Lid, Sarah Davachi, Max Richter, Labradford, etc.

Whilst previous releases were created via minimal approaches and clear conceptual framing, Living Circle arose out of a more gradual and intuitive, organic process. I wanted a vaguer framework,” says Shida, not always knowing what the next step would be, and seeking a wider and longer format. It arose partly from improvisation and partly from sessions spent working and talking through what sounds that felt interesting and what the core of the material wanted to say. I dont think the tracks would sound the way they do, if it wasnt for me giving the process time and letting things rest, without being quickly packaged or defined too much. Working in the dark like that puts you in a more vulnerable situation. But that complexity and vulnerability also created other outputs and made the process strangely more fun.

Without radical reinvention, Living Circle sees Shida continue to pull her music forward. From the sparser unadorned piano of Homes, through Shifts which first featured cellist Linnea Olsson a wonderful foil and now a fixture in Shida’s live show – and into her piano-free soundtrack work on Lake On Fire and Alvaret, theres been a consistent sense of expansion and refinement of her craft exploring different instrumental sources; dialling deeper into subtle atmospheric detail and spatiality; learning how to say more with less. On Living Circle that journey, and the time she has allowed it, has led to a hugely impressive work that feels both vast and nuanced, radiating a masterful sense of confidence and control.

Tracks:

1. Kinsei
2. Deep Violet of Gold
3. Living Circle
4. Aestus
5. Tecum
6. Remain
7. Tree Mountain