TENGGER

Informed by new age spiritualism, travel experiences, and a patient approach to analog synthesizers, musical family Tengger create immersive electronic environments. Originally made up of a couple who were also active solo artists, the group changed their name from 10 to Tengger in 2012 with the birth of their son, who would sometimes also participate in the band. Their sounds drew from classic Krautrock and more contemporary D.I.Y. electronic inspirations on a series of smaller-scale releases, culminating with the broad-screen production of 2019's Spiritual 2. Tengger first appeared in the late 2000s as 10, a duo of experimental electronic artists Marqido from Japan and Itta from South Korea. Marqido's analog synth playing gelled with Itta's harmonium and sounds made with toy instruments for a style that could be lingering ambient drones or rhythmic Krautrock-styled long-form jams. As 10, the couple released several albums on various labels. In 2012, their son Raai was born and they changed the band name to Tengger, a Mongolian word for "unlimited expanse of sky." As Raai grew, he sometimes joined his parents in performance. The group released the album Electric Earth Creation in 2013 and followed it with a self-titled LP in 2016. Their more politically themed record Segye was issued on Japanese independent psych label Guruguru Brain the next year, and their glowing and motoric album Spiritual materialized later the same year. The band teamed with American indie label Beyond Beyond Is Beyond for the release of their next long-player, Spiritual 2. Inspired by travel and the acknowledgment of invisible spiritual forces, the album was some of Tengger's best-produced work to date and was released in the spring of 2019. Little more than a year later, the group returned with the full-length Nomad, a new chapter of their layered and gelatinous synth ambience. The album was again released on the Beyond Beyond Is Beyond label in June 2020. ~ Fred Thomas