Indra Tripura Sundari CD / 2 tracks / 71.59 mins Play Sample:   56K Dialup   Broadband Download Sample:   500K   1.5Mb (Excerpt from track(s) 'Track 1') Please go to the Store to buy this item.

This is the third album in the 'Special Editions' series, the first two being the superb 'Kali' and 'Tara'. A two note sequence surges forward then subsides, coming and going like a sound in the wind. It's all rather lonesome and sparse. A second sequence falls into formation behind the first, forming a constant in the middle of the mix around which the first comes and goes in waves. Slow, soothing, sighing lead lines hover above all the pulsations like a layer of fluorescent gas over a gently throbbing computer. I was suddenly aware of a third sequence but it had been introduced so carefully I did not notice its initial appearance. Now more alert however I did pick up the fourth which increased the pace slightly but really this isn't blistering stuff, instead rather complex and subtle. Unbelievably fresh sequences keep coming but as the existing ones also have a habit of disappearing only to return later things don't get overloaded - though I must admit it is very hard to keep the mind focussed on all that is going on. There is a natural ebb and flow to it all as things reach levels that could almost be described as powerful - but not quite, whist at others things could almost be described as sparse - but not quite. It isn't only in the sequence department that there is this level of complexity and subtlety however. Delicate lead colouring comes and goes, seeming so natural in the context it is placed that it can almost go by unnoticed and yet forming an essential element of the whole experience. I suppose the word 'experience' is the right word in listening to this music.

The track lasts over fifty minutes and there are no obvious hooks or blistering moments. It is just there doing its mesmerizing thing. Some may find it all a bit too much whilst others will just let themselves be submerged, being at one with all the pulsations, letting go and being transported into a blissed out state. The second track (a mere minnow at 20 minutes) immediately returns us to rapid multi layered sequences but this time with the introduction of a restrained but sympathetic rhythm. This isn't quite as complex or intense as the opener but it is still very subtle even though there are more obvious elements, even melody, to get hold of and stop oneself being completely submerged in the sea of pulsations. As the track progresses it seems to develop a sort of moodiness, even attitude A particularly nice sequence is deployed in the twelfth minute adding that extra bit of interest just when it was needed and indeed enough happens to keep the mind tuned in, right until the end. (DL)

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