Lines in Sand

“Freedom From the Past”

(MoonJune)

Serbian keyboardist and composer Vasil Hadzimanov integrates the folk music of his homeland into a heady mixture of jazz, funk, rock and electronica. Released in 2018, the evocative Lines in Sand (MoonJune) provides a tantalizing taste of this unique fusion. Hadzimanov’s electric keyboards and synthesizers remain at the center of an exciting ensemble, creating washes of sound that organically combine traditional music with modern iterations. The group’s musical aims, and philosophy, are best illustrated on the track “Freedom From the Past,” which grows from a traditional-sounding dance number into an ecstatic electronic whirl, driven largely by Bojan Ikovic’s percolating percussion and Miroslav Tovirac’s supple bass guitar lines. Hadzimov and guitarist Branko Trijic create reverberant and otherworldly sounds that evoke the mysteries of earlier eras while fully plugged into the technology of today.