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The gorgeous Waters of Assiyah flow in on a golden cosmic glow, which soon is overshadowed by the jazz-pulse of a stand-up bass riff, suave ivory-tinkling and tiki-style drumming.
Sister Samadhi's choral voices rise through the pattering drumbeats which precede softly dancing synthtones, ambling bass and an accordian-like lead.
Twittering birds add an outdoorsy sense to Kavannah's less-swinging, flute, string, drum and piano pastoral.
The groove returns as Bone goes Walkin' With The Dharma Bums (6:09), strutting with jazz-lite guitar and organ sounds and spattering cymbals eventually leading through a muted-conversation-filled space. The percussion and keys of Ascensionism have just an intriguing extra bit of "ripple" which adds to the good-naturedly hip-shaking experience. The bass is pumped up in The Continuing Adventures of Jet Swami, driving the accompanying keyboards to new heights.
Like an audio nightcap, a sweet secret untitled track (2:40) awaits at the end of the 45-minute-plus soiree.
Being too straightforwardly musical to be considered "ambient" is not a problem; the pieces are as airy as any backdrop could hope to be, if chosen to be listened to obtusely. My only gripe is that quite a few of the instrument voices (for instance, the brass tones of Ariel Dane & the Seraphim Swing, or flute sounds of Sultry Sally's Meditation Alley which, don't get me wrong, is a very cool tune) seem overly cheesy...
While I understand these are retro-homages, and I definitely enjoy a little "cheese", don't forget what the ingestion of too much can cause in some people...
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