This massive double CD collection of incredibly long tracks is a nice collaboration between Alio Die and Mathias Grassow manipulating synths, samplers, loops, field recordings, violin and guitar-cither, tambura-cither (built by Grassow), and several guests musicians on cither, bowls, percussion, and various Indian stringed instruments. Disc 1 opens with lots of soothing ambient drones and samples of crickets chirping and such, creating an odd nighttime sort of aesthetic that isn't particularly menacing, but at the same time is not what I would call tranquil either. Both of the first two tracks follow this pattern for nearly 10 minutes each, so I'm not sure why there are separations between the tracks. "Radiant Clearing" then brings in some distant percussion behind samples of trickling water and such for a lighter sort of feel, and at three-and-a-half minutes it's much shorter as well. But then it's back into two more 10-minute sgments that dwell largely around humming tones that are hypnotically monotonous, occasionally introducing some bright metallic percussive sounds. The 15-minute "Amithaba" is by far the strongest composition herein, adding in more variety to the drawn out and repetitious piece with some subtle musical instrumentation and hints of melody, as well as the staples of the other tracks (drones and field recordings). "Dawn" is almost as long, but ironically the most somber and potentially sinister of the tracks, still following an approach very similar to its predecessors, but somehow taking things deeper into that dark ambient realm. Disc 2 begins superbly, far stronger than the first disc, with a track that utilizes some of the more musical elements that appeared in "Amithaba". The general delivery is of course very much in the same vein, but overall it just has a stronger sense of emotion somehow. I think part of that has to do with the fact that everything is still abstract, but definitely more musical, so the songs (Still averaging more than 10 minutes each, or as many as 28!) carry themselves in the same way, but with more to work with and explore. The recording is of course excellent. Everything sounds full and pristine, displaying an immaculate level of depth and detail. There are some odd volume dropouts/flutters in "Dawn" that sound unintentional (but even if they're not, they practically ruin the otherwise superb song), but aside from that everything is basically a go. The layout is simple and consistent, with lots of images of birds flying through bright cloud-lined skies, and inside is an excellent image of a woman floating through swirls of fabric or something of that nature, definitely in keeping with the soft textures and contrast of the other visuals. I honestly feel that this material would have been better suited for appearing as one mammoth track per disc. The overall feel is incredibly consistent, and the tracks flow so well together that they could quite easily blend into one with little or no disturbance, and I think that since, to me, this is largely mood music, such a presentation would better suit that mood. During the right season, and with the right frame of mind, this would be a rather stunning listening experience. I still enjoy it quite a bit, but I think the unnecessary gaps between "songs" are distracting, and I can't help but be curious as to what it would sound like as a true whole.
[Release]
Running time - 2:27:00, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Amithaba, Dawn, The Falcon, The Poetess]
Release Entertainment - http://www.releaseentertainment.com
