Khôra is a nine-track album which sits at the more abstract, loose, and texturally focused end of the modern classical/ modern composition genre. It utilises a mix of strung-out to waveringly drone-focused saxophone playing, and microtonal accordion playing.

The CD release appears on Austria’s Kairos Music. Coming presented in the labels house style digipak- which features a glued-in glossy twenty-three-page booklet- discussing the composer, the players, and pieces here in both English & German. Cover artwork wise we get stark black waveforms set against an off-white backdrop.

José María Sánchez-Verdú is a Spanish composer who has been active since 1997. Playing his pieces here are the Spanish experimental  Sax Quartet  SIGMA Project, and Accordionist  Iñaki Alberdi’s.

The nine pieces featured here date from between 2013 and 2019- 
having runtimes between five and ten minutes, with a total CD playtime of just over sixty-five minutes. As I mentioned in my opening paragraph this is very much at the more abstract/Avant-garde/ spaced-out side of things- with pieces often shifting between low-key blowing & wavering tones to sudden load sustains- be they low, mid, or high pitched. So I’d certainly say as a release this is most certainly going to appeal to those who like their modern composition at the more noisy/ textured side of things. yes, there are darts of harmony/ formal compositional shape from time to time- but these are fairly fleeting.

The first four tracks focus purely on Saxophone, tracks five and nine bring the microtonal accordion in with the sax, and track six is purely accordion-based. The track's structure are largely built around a series of honks, drones, blows, simmers, and pumps- with on/ off sustains, sudden loud darts, and textural shifts. 

With, Khôra  Sánchez-Verdú has most certainly created his own distinctive sonic universe- and certainly when I’m in the mood for some more abstract/difficult-to-pin composition this is the type of release I go to. I just felt as an album it was possibly a bit too long/ samey in places. But you can most certainly admire Sánchez-Verdú uncompromising focus, and the skilled/ controlled playing of both SIGMA Project, and  Iñaki Alberdi’.