Ashera: Colour Glow

ash-cg.jpg (12k) Ashera: Colour Glow
(Ashera - 2000)

Add Colour Glow to Ashera's growing list of absolute ambient gems. Even lighter than their predecessors, these new sounds from Australia convey achingly peaceful moods. I'm quite taken as you'll read...

Plus, meet Anthony Wright in this month's interview to learn more about these ephemeral sounds.

Wafting hazily as its namesake might, savannah mirage seems to be seen/heard from far away; its tones never quite coalesce into anything solid, yet are most lovely to witness, whether they're real or only imagined. Droplets of muffled e-piano notes dribble along the softly swaying curtain of mist veil, a beautiful and nearly-minimalistic wall hanging. Twinkling onto an enshrouded expanse, two moons are constructed of similarly gauzey tonality.

Hovering over a shifting bed of light synthdrones, colour glow (13:39) radiates with layered wisps of wordless female croons, an extended lullaby to the heavens. Emitting sparkling, though soft-focus, belltones, music box unfolds a delicate, hazy dreamscape of sparse, muted tinklings. Like some synth-orchestral fluid released into weightlessness, Peace One rolls slowly through space, tumbling in shapeless grandeur.

In a similarly ephemeral wash, Colour 11 spreads in all directions, cast with its own hues and tints. Sparse movements and chiming spaciousness give plenty of room for physical and mental relaxation while luxuriant As Always unfolds like a blanket of serenity. A gently ringing vortex surrounds Two fFlarian (2:57) with a plush-yet-metallic sheen.

Fingerpainting a rainbow in the warm, sunny skies of Sydney, Colour Glow captivates me with its 9.3-rated ethereality ... but don't take my word for it; listen at the Ashera website.

If you've not already treated yourself to Anthony's previous works, please do yourself the favor of checking out Cobalt 144 and Ambient Selections... 3 absolutely gorgeous discs...

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This review posted December 30, 2000

AmbiEntrance © 2000-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).