Following their critically acclaimed collaborative album with Tinariwen in 2016, Sainkho Namtchylak and Grammy Award-winning producer Ian Brennan return with a set of improvised songs recorded on the abandoned islands of Venice where Brennan has resided for the past 10 years. Sainkho speaks four languages (Tuvan, Russian, English, and German), but chose for this project to sing phonetically in the "language of nature". The album was recorded outdoors, 100% live, without overdubs, and with water as the main accompanying instrument. In contrast to an era where image takes precedence over sound, the aim of this project was to create an "audio film" indelibly imbued by time and place. Sainkho Namtchylak is one of the few female throat singers from Tuva. She began studying both the traditional Tuvan repertoire and overtone singing, a practice until then reserved only to men. Battling against misogyny at the beginning of her career, she has gone on to release over forty albums.
