Julia Ulehla, Dálava

Dálava, the genre-defying ensemble led by vocalist Julia Úlehla with guitarist Aram Bajakian (Lou Reed, John Zorn), returns with Understories, a deeply evocative new album that explores uncharted territories of sound, seamlessly weaving Moravian folk traditions with an experimental, improvisational approach into a captivating new soundscape. Their music has received critical acclaim for its expressive depth: fRoots extolled their prior release as “so overwhelming and so intense that it is hard to put into any category…. Saying that The Book of Transfigurations is a masterpiece is not an exaggeration.”

Much of the music is based on a published collection of engagingly melodic songs that Úlehla’s great-grandfather collected from his native village a century ago. Sung in Czech and English, Úlehla’s hypnotic voice spans from whisper to holler, by turns vulnerable and stentorian, embodying each song in its own fantastical world. The music resides in that indeterminate, liminal space between past and future, magic and realism, neither primordial nor of this world. The album is a sonic exploration that transcends time and borders, fusing disparate traditions into a singular, emotionally charged experience.