Kontovourkis & Co. (Cyprus) share EP ‘Last Farewell’

Following on from Greek-language mediterranean chanson ‘Avrio Mesimeri’ and their rowdy, anglophone skiffle debut ‘Long Way to Nirvana’, Kontovourkis & Co. are releasing their EP and unveiling a poignant, new singer-songwriter number entitled ‘Last Farewell’. Sung and authored by Duncan McCowan, ‘Last Farewell’ invokes an intense intimacy and pathos towards finality - be that of life, love, time or memory. The final single from the EP encapsulates a simple yet heartfelt meditation on the sorrow and inevitability of the end.

Buy/Stream ‘Last Farewell’: https://found.ee/KontovourkisCo

Private Audio: https://s.disco.ac/szgndztmepds

Set against a milieu of crisp yet restrained guitar strums, McCowan’s voice - sombre and resolute - lays out the fate of the parting worlds. “Now at that long, insistent knell / We bid the last farewell,” he sings above hazy production and measured instrumentation, their resonances coalescing into a murky gauze before dissolving away into the distant past. “This song is very close to my heart. It combines the anguish of an inescapable destiny with the rapture of having lived deeply, freely and honestly. For me these sentiments embody an ideal for living,” explains McCowan.

With the EP featuring three different vocalists, and lyrics in two languages - all three penned by McCowan - the EP channels the sound worlds of the band’s homeland in Cyprus, where the sonorities of the eastern Mediterranean island blend in sprinkles of influences from the globalised world of today. In ‘Long Way to Nirvana’, Kontovourkis & Co.’s endearingly jovial energy makes it hard not to stomp your feet in time with the freewheeling skiffle tune. In ‘Avrio Mesimeri’, the band’s swaying rhythm and the unrefined warmth of brother-sister duo Michalis and Panayiota Kontovourkis’ vocals lull the lyrics’ bittersweet qualms with a nostalgic glow that glides above the intertwining acoustic guitar, trumpet and electric guitar.

Listen to ‘Long Way to Nirvana’: https://youtu.be/NLfVQJURMgA

Listen to ‘Avrio Mesimeri’: https://youtu.be/0azq67oo_Cg

Formed in 2016 by Michalis Kontovourkis, a key figure in Larnaca’s music hub on the southeast coast of Cyprus, Kontovourkis & Co. honed their sound through their live gigs, drawing inspiration from foundational artists across the rock, singer-songwriter, and indie genres spectrum. After turning heads on the island with his solo 2018 singer-songwriter album “Ap tin Arxi”, Michalis spearheaded Kontovourkis & Co.’s formation as its band members offered more creative direction to the songs. Marking the band’s debut is a string of three singles written by McCowan, who himself brings along his musical past from London's roots busking scene of the 1980s.