Photos by Freddie Faulkenberry

Greek Dionysian band Chickn recently released their self-titled debut album, on October 10th via Inner Ear Records. Chickn is a modular music band formed during the Christmas holidays of 2012 in Athens. Bringing together an assemblage of musicians whose primary work has been influenced by Eastern Mediterranean music, psychedelic and progressive rock.

Angelos Krallis (vocals, guitars, lute, tsambouna, udu) grew up in Kos island, a Greek paradise close to the Anatolian coast of Turkey and hooked up with “rembetiko” musicians. Evangelos Aslanides (drums, percussion, djembe, darbuka, bendir) and Pantelis Karasevdas (drums, percussion, congas, djembe) coming from Exarchia, music scene of Athens. The  main  pillars  of  Chickn’s  music  is  improvisation,  as well  as  their  tendency  to  embrace  the unexpected. They  have  developed  a  large  body  of  artists that  they  work  with  and  as  a  result their liquid line-up gets temporarily solidified by their current expressive needs.

This is a radio zapping on a 68-minute car drive. This is a field unfolding in front of your very eyes and at the same time a call of wandering. This is an attempt of some people to invent themselves through playing. This is Jetztzeit rock. A sound conceived as jump in the free sky of history.

The album was composed by the Athens-based trio in Athens and Valencia from fragments of many years during the period 2014-2015. It was recorded from July to October 2015 in Sonic Playground Studio and in Iraklis Vlachakis’ home in Athens. The album was produced by Chickn and Nikos Triantafyllou and it was mastered by Alan Douches in West West Side Studios in New York.

Personnel appearing on this album: 
Konstantinos Protopappas (electric guitar), Haris Neilas (darbuka, congas, cowbell), Andreas Kiltsiksis (oud, amanes) and the band Baby Guru / Sir Kosmiche (bass), Prins Obi (additional synths, additional vocals), King Elephant (saxophone)