‘Mare Adânc’ (Romanian for Great Deep) is a collaboration between the composer and producer, Daniel Dorobantu (electronics/keys), and Dan Sirbu (flute/voice), a Berlin-based artist. It makes use of both electronics and field recordings to guide the listener on a seven-minute journey of hushed mystery through a vast, spacious expanse.

It opens with the heavenly murmur of Sirbu’s flute, a wind-instrument which, as such, beautifully matches the timbre of his chanting. The first impression it instills is of pure peace, but upon successive listenings I began to hear hints of something in Sirbu’s chant, which sounded like an uneasy calling out to or ache for a far gone time or place. The beauty of the flute’s melody is best described as a haunting beauty. The flute at times hovers, sways, swirls, or dances on top of an oceanic wall of humming synths that glitter and flicker here and there like moonlight through slow-moving clouds on the rising tide. The flute’s evanescent tone leaves me feeling like it’s always slipping away or just out of reach. There’s a dialogue between the flute and Sirbu’s voice – they’re pleading with each other – but the airy flute cannot be brought down, nor languishing humankind raised so high up.

During one of my listening experiences, I was suddenly struck, even startled, when the track ended. I had lost all sense of time and been so absorbed in the flow and ebb of the song that when it abruptly ended I was jolted from the dream that it had woven around me. Now, one might assume that Mare Adânc, with it’s lengthy runtime, might feel like it’s stretching on and on so as to procure impatience in the listener, but that’s not the case at all. If anything, it feels too short, for even if it was one-hour long; that hour would be as the blink of an eye, so enrapturing is it.

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Daniel Dorobantu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dorobantu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danieldorobantuart

Dan Sirbu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dan-Sîrbu-101864132808812/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/sirbu-dan-61709441?fbclid=IwAR1XIucpeZtv1TN0rH8CG7XZ_eHs5g2gozf0bijXl42uCLEwXfhrD_7wb2o