Safir Nóu: Groundless

Though Safir Nóu can be looked at as an experimental composer, on his latest offering – Groundless, he seems intent on giving us an easy and bright daydreaming soundtrack. The music is the kind that you play to unwind or contemplate, rather than hear on your hi-fidelity headphones to appreciatively analyze.

Being as thematically broad as it is, it feels unfair to ascribe Groundless a genre. And as we read Nóu’s bio on his BandCamp profile where he chooses to identify the album simply as “total music”, we realize that this detached, unclassifiable sound is precisely what he aimed for. The music on Groundless knits together influences from classical, folk, world music, post-rock, and also touches upon jazz on occasion. But all this inspection of Nou’s work seems irrelevant, as we gradually notice that all Groundless aims to be is a touching expression of sentiment – nothing more, nothing less. As the artist himself describes the record: “Groundless is the result of uncountable hours of work and joy under the belief that music has to be created merely out of emotions, in order to touch the mind of the listener and the creators themselves.” As we press play and surrender ourselves to the adept hands of Nóu, all that seems apparent is his objective to take us far away to a destination unspecified.

Favorite Track: Imaginary Cloud

8.5/10

Track List
1. Imaginary Cloud
2. New Lunacy
3. Floating on a Note
4. Blue Dance
5. Land-escape
6. Puppets’ Waltz
7. Diary from the Groundless Land