Ani Zakareishvili - Neither in the Sky nor on the Ground (2025)

'Neither in the sky nor on the ground' is the long-promised new album from Tbilisi-based producer and DJ Ani Zakareishvili. Initially prepared as a unique live set for Tkeshi festival with its own dialogue and dramaturgy, the record is now presented in purely instrumental form. But even though the narrative elements are gone, the album follows its own arc, it breathes, rises and falls, like the rib cage of a sleeping creature.

Mysterious, spacious, yet vaguely familiar, 'Neither in the sky nor on the ground' is "about finding your inner child that still wonders, and this journey feels like trying to chase an octopus in the sky". That journey begins and ends with two more ambient pieces in "Leaving" and "Same sea", but throughout the rest of the album, Zakareishvili sculpts often complex rhythmical structures from fairly simple loops and various recurring motifs. Cryptic synth melodies and distorted samples resembling the inner workings of old machinery interweave to disorienting effect; gnarly bass-lines and cavernous percussion propel each other forward with a biting edge.

"Road less travelled" immediately plunges us into the deep end, disoriented, with its syncopated percussion and booming low end, only for the whole piece to dissolve into slightly spooky ambiance. "Artificial me, artificial you, artificial us" feels like listening to intercepted transmissions from outer space, whereas the title track revolves around a soft synth loop, unsettlingly hopeful, but never quite comforting. The penultimate "Strange skies" lives up to its name, gently glitching, and ending with bursts of distorted bass, only for "Same sea" to close the album with dulcet synth melodies. Punchy and euphonious, 'Neither in the sky nor on the ground' is a record which searches for wonder and finds it in the journey itself.