Cobra Fakir

How do you make something new when you have been working together for over thirty years and are in a niche that has, in many ways been and gone, in terms of broad appeal? Miriodor are a Canadian trio who are an integral part of the Rock in Opposition movement spearheaded by Henry Cow in the seventies; its core tenet being a commitment to challenging music. And yet, despite this – and the suggestion that this album be filed under rock/avant-progressive – Cobra Fakir is a rather enjoyable album for those whose tastes extend beyond the norm. 

The influences appear to include a fare amount of King Crimson and a smidgen or two of Zappa with the Mothers, but in most respects Miriodor make new and interesting music. They play a huge variety of instruments both electric and acoustic, which keeps things tonally diverse and they produce a good variety of largely tuneful pieces within the context of the filing suggestion. It’s music for the head in the first instance but feels like it could become something deeper with time. Miriodor describe the album’s creation as “a very intense brain-squeezing period” and if you turn it up enough this could be the effect at home, but in a good way. Not for everyone, but a diversion for the open minded.