ΠΕΔΙΟ

Πεδίο is the songwriting debut of Greek/UK artist Bethnal Greener (aka: Kostis Kilymis). The album’s voice-driven tracks mark a notable departure for Kilymis, previously known for his work in the outer fringes of experimental music, yet are firmly linked to the intricacies and immersive logic of his previous projects. Built around the contrast between the neon-like electronic palette and the warm bass that grounds the voice at the centre, the songs tell stories of emotional growth, fleeting bonds, and of being as part of a community. All the while, the music itself remains informed by Kilymis’ past experience in electroacoustic and freeform work, and his concurrent appreciation of song craft in its many forms.

The songs themselves alternate between the expansive and contemplative tones of the opener, ‘Revery’, the elliptical mystery of ‘Trespassing Flowers’, to the ghostly and skeletal paean to the fleeting nature of human connection in the album’s eponymous final track. The record features a number of contributions from Athens’ music scene, each fleshing out different facets of the Bethnal Greener story in their own unique colours, the most notable of these being the voice of Maria Sideri who sings the sole guest vocal on the nocturnal and dubby ‘Something Like Your Arms’, the first song that was written for this project back in 2019.

The album takes its name from Πεδίο του Άρεως (Field of Mars), a large park and common space near the centre of Athens that served as a popular meeting place during the quarantines of 2020-22. Relatively neglected before this period, its immediate availability made it an obvious gathering point for the city’s artistic and left-field communities that had already begun to relocate past its borders before the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of rapid gentrification. After the restrictions subsided, so did people’s reliance on the park, leaving behind it a renewed sense of alienation, yet for some a reminder of our shared potential.

Πεδίο is out on LP and Digital on October 3rd via Same Difference, distributed by Inner Ear.