Compendium

Steven R. Smith rolled out a series of albums under the name Hala Strana across the long 2000s. The vision for the project was unique, particularly for the ‘scene’ he might have been aligned with (Jewelled Antler, psych-folk, etc.) – Hala Strana was the repository for Smith’s imaginings and re-visioning of Eastern European folk music, though the material oscillated between traditional tunes and Smith’s own writing. He was also developing his craft as an instrument maker at the time, so some of the instruments, like the hurdy-gurdy that caws and crackles through Compendium, were handmade. This combination of that rickety DIY-ness and the overarching sense of music jolted out of time is rich through Compendium, which pulled together singles, compilation contributions, and other oddments. There are some lovely version of traditional tunes from Romania, Albania and Hungary; some grimly beautiful strums and moans for guitar; and, on “Endings”, a fuzzed-out wash of creaking, groaning strings that rivals the late-night mystics of Keiji Haino’s Nijiumu.