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The liner notes request that you "please play at lower levels", but I guarantee that won't be enough; you'll want to hear every dreamy nuance (and there are many!). The soft synth washes of Cobalt Friends are dappled with faint tinklings and fluffy puffs of female voice. Whispy threads of voice also run through
Vertical Tunnels in a shapeshifting vapor.
Cricket-like sounds accompany The Cat (3:12) which treads its meandering path between almost-random piano notes and light bell glints.
Sort of a minimal jazz structure, Patio Wall is built of soft, soft, pillowy e-piano notes and xylo-tones which loosely pile up. Similarly constructed, though slower in pace, River Farm yields a crop of keyboard glimmerings; the tempo is utterly dreamlike, the atmosphere rich and dewy. An extended exercise in radiant shimmering and almost imperceptible shifts, the long, quiet drone of 144 (13:03) is accented by bells and other textures, creating a simply lovely atmosphere of magic. The piece powers up for a bit of a crescendo, then levels off again with a rich, full hum and embellishments, shifting again into shimmer mode. This track alone is worth the price of admission!
Lush and hazy, Temple Ritual is marked by quiet surges, like ripples across a warm, electronic liquid. Relatively stronger, louder and darker, though still quite subdued, Ultima Thule whirls like a gaseous cloud stirred by gentle winds; shifting focus brings on new, more angular, soundshapes which levitate above faint organ waves. As deeper drones and hushed feedback darken the proceedings, the result is powerful.
Moonlight Tides, not surprisingly, returns to more tranquil waters... slow-motion synth-currents are capped with elongated female vocal haze. A most peaceful floatation, fading, fading...
More discordant, though still very cushy, Lord Shield Pakal swelters in a murkier, muted chaos of underwater rumbles and detuned bells. Caroline and/or Adriana are heard again, wordlessly crooning, and as always, interwoven with Asher's flowing electronics; Swimming Cobalt Waters streams along with these elements and an overhead blanket of tinkling highlights.
In Fifth Densities seems to live in its own slow-moving, microscosmic whirlwind; it seems as if something musical is happening deep within. Faint tones sometimes manage to escape the general cycling, which appears as a dimly glowing orb of sonic energy. Perhaps we'll never know, as the piece is overtaken by unwelcome silence... but despair not, there's always the repeat button.
Unfortunately, at "press" time, the Ashera website hasn't been updated to reflect this new release (though you can learn more about the almost-as-amazing Ambient Ashera Selections there).
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