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Artist: Ashera Reviews:
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Ashera (a.k.a. Anthony Wright) has released another excellent quiet ambient recording. Besides (his) keyboards and processing, and the subtle use of wordless vocals from Caroline Wilson and (on one song) Valerie Willemsen, new textures are laced throughout the tracks on We Gaia via Gary Brown's atmospheric guitars (which include a Rickenbacker and lap steel). The guitar and some deft processing touches add some new wrinkles to the tone poems that Wright is so adroit at crafting. However, in no way will We Gaia sound too different so that fans of previous works (such as Cobalt 144 or Colour Glow) will feel alienated. Once again, the music has a strong minimal structure (imagine a melding of James Johnson and Tim Story), featuring repeated musical phrases and mere snippets of melody. And also once again, most of the music has an inner warmth and optimism even when the main tonal elements are minor chords or notes. Just the same, there is also an inherent emotional neutrality to the songs on We Gaia - this is not new age music in that it is ambiguous enough for the listener to connect the dots as to what he/she should glean from a particular track. The opening cut, "In the Beginning," is a sign of what's to come. Drifting clouds of synths, twinkling notes, muted electric piano, a bit of vocals, and discrete guitar all combine to create a soft musical candle-glow. "Her Tiny Hands," the next track, features some of the same elements, but the guitar work (sounding reminiscent, but not derivative, of Jeff Pearce at times) is more predominant and the synths are slightly darker, aided by subterranean echoed rustlings in the background. One of Wright's strongest talents is his ability to craft individual pieces that, while different when examined closely, have a unified musical approach so that the album never presents any jarring transitions. The electric piano of "Cities to Come" rolls into shadowy keyboard textures and bell tones as it meanders into the next song, "Mother..."which opens with a strong synth string presence and an underlying rolling drone, accented by crystal-clear bells. This transition between undeniably disparate elements is seamless just the same, owing to an overall vibe which is common to these tracks (and many on the album, for that matter). While darker moments do exist on We Gaia ("They Are Leaving"), even ominous soundscapes seem to entice rather than repel the listener. As on Cobalt 144, Wright wields the vocal talents of Caroline Wilson expertly - few artists are so keenly able to incorporate wordless vocals as pure ambient instruments. Her ethereal sighings are warmer and richer than the best synthesized choruses and (as they did on Cobalt 144), whenever the vocals emerge from the shadowy depths of the ambient soundworld, they are like a siren's call: sensuous, seductive, and mysterious. Whether the musical sparseness of "Reef Beach" or the almost luxurious lushness of synthesized strings on "Forward, In To The Light" (the last cut on the album and similar in some ways to the synth choral work of Larry Kucharz, with added bell tones), minimal ambient artist Ashera has produced what could be his most ambitious and refined work to date. We Gaia has enough new touches that it's not a retread, but it also underscores Wright's previous strengths, clearly showing why he has developed quite the following from ambient music fans who recognize a very good thing when they hear it.
Ashera (a.k.a. Anthony Asher Wright) has been the talk of the ambient/spacemusic crowd for the latter part of 2000. When I finally heard his CD Cobalt 144, I understood why. Strikingly original and at times almost ethereally beautiful, this album is a marvel. I must have listened to the CD more than ten times before I even began formulating the review in my mind. The individual cuts on Cobalt 144 are, at times, quite diverse, yet the album is so cohesive, that I had a hard time "focusing" until I realized I should just go along for the ride. So, that's what I did. First off, I want to apologize ahead of time for any errors I make in the factual part of this review. The font used for liner notes on the album is, in my opinion, nearly impossible to read. While I abhor critics who bitch about such things, (and it doesn't influence my love of the album one whit), I do think that choosing aesthetics over legibility to this degree is, at least somewhat, a mistake. Well, with that said, on to the music. The album opens with one of the highlights, "Cobalt Friends." Mixing delicate wordless (or maybe there are words there) female vocalizings, synths that fade in and out of focus, and what sounds like Jeff Pearce-like ambient guitar, the song blew me away with it's sense of spaciousness and it's mysterious serenity. Imagine Jeff Pearce mixed with SAW II Aphex Twin and you might approach this. Next, "Vertical Tunnels" brings the female vocals more front and center and the mood becomes even more ethereal. Ashera has produced some really unique ways of using vocalizings as part of this music. This is unlike a lot of what you have probably heard. At first, I was reminded of Liquid Mind, but then I thought, "No, this is more spacy." Whatever you compare it to, the use of lower register synths as a counterpoint is handled with almost surgical precision. Things get very different with the minimal "The Cat" which features crickets and other "night" sounds balanced against heavily reverbed synth notes with a semi-chime-like sound. Aqueous' Entertaining Angels came to mind, but Ashera's music is more rooted in ambient sensibilities and less in the improvised and more experimental British duo's domain. Although there is certainly a risky air to this cut and it does have that same Eno/Budd-esque element to it. There are twelve songs all total on Cobalt 144 and each one unwinds slowly to reveal it's own window on gentle and floating ambient soundscapes. "River Farm" brings back the crickets and other night critters amidst impressionistic synths and what sounds like electric piano. The gentleness of this piece is almost palpable. Yet there is no trace of "new age" on this recording. Despite the presence of nature sounds, the praise that this artist receives from hard core ambient fans is proof positive that Ashera is not being passed over just because he likes crickets (I do too, for that matter!). At more than thirteen minutes, the track called "144" is a patient exercise in synth washes and floating tonalities. Fans of the more ambient work of, for example, Danna and Clement, would (I'd wager) think they had died and gone to bliss heaven. This is followed by the Larry Kucharz-like "Temple Ritual" and that yields to the dark and shadowy "Ultima Thule," full of swirling synths, drones, and pealing guitar notes. Not truly dissonant, the song does have noir elements running through it just the same. The album concludes with a great spacemusic drifter, "In Fifth Densities," a subtly spiraling number that brings the album to a solid close. I have two more albums from this artist still to review. Based on what I have heard so far, the praise heaped on Ashera is well-deserved. Cobalt 144 is filled with ambitious, even ingenious music. It stands several ambient conventions on their posteriors and strikes out in some interesting directions. Frankly, I can't believe this guy is not going to be a major player - and soon. Hell, he may be one already! |