Jim Matus and Laila Salins (design of photo by bmo, a/k/a James Belanger)

In spring of 2021 they released the debut of their progressive folk-jazz CD, High We Shine the Sky.

MATUS-SALINS:

the newly formed duo of Latvian singer Laila Salins and bandleader Jim Matus perform original songs, accompanied by guitar, laoutar and harmonium – drawing on a lifetime of musical adventures in world fusion, chamber music, folk, tango and jazz, to create cinematic soundscapes.

High We Shine the Sky: themes that emerge here reflect dream language and tales of longing; responses to the recent toxic regime in the White House and the covid-19 pandemic; and reflections on living in the wilderness of the “Hidden Hills” of Western MA.

High We Shine the Sky is composed of 12 tracks, which span from the upbeat driving sound of Switch It Up, (video at right), inspired by Bishop Barber and the BLM movement – to the modal, metric asymmetry of Treetop Bebop and Vertigo Crossroad. An integral part of the sound of the duo comes from the rich sounds of the laoutar, an electric hybrid between a mandocello and a Greek laouto, designed by Jim Matus together with Rick Turner.

The circus that was unleashed by the Trump presidency inspired Sybil and the Clown, based on an old Latvian melody, while Suspended Animation addresses the sense of life being frozen in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. Other songs are based on metaphors from scientific phenomena: Free Radical and Nothing Eyes Can See (referring to dark matter), both incorporating dense, jazz-inflected harmonies.

The title track, High We Shine the Sky (above), is a lyrical soaring ballad in 5/8, with a video by Arturs Virtmanis — a meditative, shifting landscape of colors.