Tomin - Flores Para Verene / Cantos Para Caramina

Released: 02/08/24

The Brooklyn-based Tomin is not your average musician. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist, he is also a bioinformatician (he works in computational genetics, with a focus on oncology), and poet “ and there is certainly a raw lyricism to this wonderful LP, which compiles recordings that Tomin self-released across 2020 and 2021, now released through the always great International Anthem label. Featuring 24etudesof compact, iterative beauty, ranging from 30-second sketches to full-fledged tracks, comprised solely of the flute, trumpet and alto clarinet (all played by Tomin),Flores para Verene / Cantos para Caramina(Flowers for Verene / Songs for Caramina) is an astonishingly beautiful, life-affirming record. 

Many of the compositions here are dedicated to jazz icons, such as Come Sunday, Soprano (for Ellington and Dolphy)', and one gets the sense that the experimentally-minded Tomin realises that to make anything new of note “ and let's be clear,Flores para Verene / Cantos para Caraminathrills with its progressive approach to harmony “ it's not unwise to take what you need from the greats that went before you.