It’s heard in drips, in flows of water. It’s counted in numbers, echoes in poetry, called into the air in plaintive cries, sighing instruments, and the decay of piano notes. When a crisis reaches us somewhere that even words fail, maybe we need sounds and music to tell the story alongside science.

That’s a feeling revisiting Glacier Music II, by artists Anushka Chkheidze, Eto Gelashvili, Hayk Karoyi, Lillevan, and Robert Lippok. It’s out now on Establishment, my label project / label counterpart to CDM, releasing on book and album the latest culmination of a project by Goethe-Institut Georgien in Tbilisi. As I write this, in the background is the refrain of a poetic mix assembled by Robert. The news has gotten more ominous, but then that’s where we need music the most. Music doesn’t shy away from what scares us – it tacks into the storm and darkness. Science and research can help us plot the chart accurately, but then we have to grip the wheel.