Rating:
Genre:
New Age
Release Date: 09/02/2003
Now this is a departure. Excluding the cathedral reverb on
Walk in Beauty,
Primeaux & Mike's releases have featured straightforward recordings of their traditional peyote songs. Considering the hallucinatory origins of the music, it always made for a dreamy experience. Now the electronic foundation that producer
Jim Wilson has given
On This Earth makes it otherworldly.
Wilson might as well have added his name to the cover since his programming and keyboards fill the numerous moments that vocalists
Primeaux & Mike are absent, and the album sounds more like his genre-mixing recordings with
Robbie Roberston and
Tulku than the singers' previous albums.
Primeaux & Mike's harmonies are still rich and reflective, and the backing tracks never get in the way. The title track's English lyrics are a bit too precious for their own good, but it's the only misstep the album takes.
Primeaux's own English lyrics to
"Mystical Warriors" are, on the other hand, lovely. Gentle breakbeats, flutes, and
Michael Brook-like washes of sound fill the album while avoiding the usual ethno-fusion clichés. Considering it's such a deviation,
On This Earth shouldn't be the only
Primeaux & Mike album in anyone's collection, and
Wilson has much to prove before being crowned the new
Jon Hassell. Still, the album touches the healing and mental unlocking possibilities of the peyote dreams that inspired it.
~David Jeffries, All Music Guide
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