Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 10/17/2006
These East-West fusion projects can really go either way: it may have appealed to the better angels of listeners' natures when
Ravi Shankar recorded with
Yehudi Menuhin, but whether or not the musical result was really worth hearing is a separate, and more fraught, question. Guitarist
Sanjay Mishra avoids most of the obvious potholes in the road to cultural harmony by not worrying too much about creating a musical fusion. Instead, he seems to be happy with an emulsion: a temporary mixture of unlike elements that adds up to a complex and exciting whole, without forcing any of the participants to pretend that they're something they aren't.
Mishra himself is fully capable of jumping back and forth between
classical,
country,
jazz, and
rock guitar styles and then going off suddenly on flights of
raga-derived Asian fancy before returning. But his accomplices on this album, who include
turntablist DJ Logic, tabla player
Samir Chatterjee, the brilliant flutist
Steve Gorn, and veena player
Barun Pal, mostly stick to their native idioms, and the result is a brilliant and multifaceted sound. Highlights include
"A Different Morning," on which
Mishra's
Renaissance-inflected fingerpicked guitar blends surprisingly well with
Pal's keening veena, and the equally brilliant
"Logical Journey," on which the turntable is used as subtly and elegantly as you are likely ever to hear.
"Raindrum" and
"Mirror" are both just a bit static and uneventful, but even those tracks are quite enjoyable. Overall, this is a stunning album.
~Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
;)
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