Sujud

From the onset, Sujud conjures the atmospheres of a mystical forest, as if Senyawa were summoning the dark spirits from its murky undergrowth. The concept behind the record is based on the Bahasa Indonesian word Tanah which translates to “soil-ground-land-earth,” and with their distorted sounds (created in part with an especially built detuned guitar) and religious chanting, Senyawa create a world that is the perfect sonic incarnation of tanah. The duo have been de-constructing and radically reimagining Indonesian folk since 2010, with Rully Shabara on “extreme vocals” and Wukir Suryadi supplying the richly layered instrumentals with his homemade instruments. At times the two — Shabara’s grunts, unsettling vibratos, and deep throat singing and Suryadi’s warped sound effects — are indiscernible, weaving a world of sound that is both unfamiliar and ancestral.