There’s a rare kind of music that feels like a place you can step into, and Sava Plukhooii’s ‘The Wanderer’ is exactly that, a terrain of sound where the mind wanders freely and the heart quietly catches up. Born in the Slovenian Alps, recorded at the Piano Room in Golnik with panoramic views and a Fazioli 212 piano under his fingers, this EP is as much about the journey as it is about the notes themselves.
From the first delicate strikes, you feel transported. Tibetan singing bowls hum beneath Sava’s piano, while the kalimba and Altai mouth harp punctuate the space like birdsong at dawn. It’s a meditation in motion, a musical reflection that unfolds naturally, like sunlight spilling across a forest floor.
The standout closer ‘Icarus Variations’ lifts the experience into another realm. Inspired by neo-classical themes and the mythic arc of the Icarus legend, the track glides between tension and release, each chord carrying both ambition and vulnerability. There’s a cinematic quality here, a sense that Sava’s music isn’t just heard but witnessed, as if you’re following the arc of a soul tracing the sky.
What makes ‘The Wanderer’ remarkable is how Sava balances stillness with texture. Layered synths whisper under piano phrases, wooden instruments tap like memories recalled, and every silence is as intentional as the notes that follow. It’s a rare gift: the ability to create an emotional landscape without a single word spoken.
By the end of the EP, you feel changed, like a breeze reshaping the surface of a pond. ‘The Wanderer’ is a record that asks you to slow down, listen carefully, and allow sound to do what it was always meant to do: guide you home.
