Georgian musical artists in ambient production on endangered environments of Caucasus

Georgia's contemporary musical artists Anushka Chkheidze and Eto Gelashvili are featured on Glacier Music II, an ambient release bringing together talent from the South Caucasus and Berlin and highlighting the fragility of the environment and ecosystems of the former region.

In a production involving the two creatives with Armenian composer Hayk Karoyi, video artist Lillevan and Berlin-based musician Robert Lippok, works by the two young Georgian artists comprise the 10-track recording coming on Friday.

Dedicated to the subject of environmental degradation of the South Caucasus mountainous landscapes, Glacier Music II is described by its creators as a release where "[a]ncient Caucasian tradition meets contemporary sound geographies" and attempts to bring the themes of the receding glaciers closer to its listeners.

Conceived following a trip to the mountains of the region by the featured artists, the recording came out of the "collected visceral sensations of nature", the creators have said, and aims to "sound a poignant, personal note of urgency" around the environmental threat.

In Glacier Music II, Chkheidze is featured through her "harmonic imagination and detailed, intimate piano work", while Gelashvili has lent her vocal talent to select tracks. Chkheidze is known both on the Georgian scene and abroad for individual and group experimental releases and was nominated for last year's European Independent Album of the Year Award, while Gelashvili is recognised for her work on Georgian polyphony.

The Calver Journal, a publication centred on exploring art, culture and societies of eastern Europe, has described the release as "[taking] on the monumental task of capturing environmental fragility" and said it "manages to convey the glacial immensity of the melting ice masses, leaving listeners both breathless and energised to take action".