Review Text
Lotus Rising, Chronotope Project's fourth album on the Spotted Peccary Music label, is a series of musical reflections on foundational themes in Zen Buddhism, drawn from the composer's thirty years of study and practice of Zen. The melodic ambient character of the album is presented in a predominantly electronic medium, seasoned with cello, Irish whistle, the twenty four-stringed Harpejji, field recordings and miscellaneous hand percussion. The rich textures produced by this electronic / acoustic confluence are hallmark elements of the Chronotope Project style. This style also frequently deploys an undercurrent of vibrant electronic sequences that support and enliven the textures. Those familiar with previous works by Chronotope Project will recognize the plaintive flute or horn-like sound of the musical protagonist that guides the listener through the course of the album. This instrument, the Hakken Continuum Fingerbooard, is a uniquely expressive synthesizer with a soft, continuous keyboard that permits glissandos, vibrato and timbral variations in real time. The voice of the Continuum serves to anchor the listener in the journey and to give expression to the self that seeks expansion and self-surrender. The poignant image of the lotus flower - which ascends from the murky depths of desire and attachment to bloom in the light of realization - is Buddhism's most recognizable symbol. The eight tracks comprising this album tell the story of the aspirant's journey on the Buddha Way. In Zen Buddhism, practice is not a "means" to awakening; it is awakening itself, just as music is not a means to reach the end of a piece, but an evolving expression in time, in which each moment expresses an aspect of the whole.