by Matt Howarth, Sonic Curiosity
December 2008
This release from 2008 features 73 minutes of extreme ambience in a shamanistic vein.
Metcalf plays frame drums, earth drum, udu, clay pot, seed pods, and harmonic-overtone voice. Seelig plays bansuri flute, dilruba, and harmonic-overtone voice. Roach contributes drones, zones and atmospheres.
Moody textures generate a reverent mien of the type that stretch a moment into an eternity, but that stasis is embellished with haunting airs that rise from the murky pool of sound like antediluvian spirits who have come to impart cosmic wisdom through their august presence. Exotic strings flavor the accumulating mists with a taste of melancholic human aspirations, which periodically becomes subdued by the tonal divinity of an expansive void that remains a constant foundation throughout the composition.
Vaporous flutes wander through the seething tonalities, conjuring wistful emotions to the surface of the listener's mind. The psychic heart aches from their softly passionate refrain.
When the primitive percussives make their appearance, their beats are languid and studied, designed to ground any straying focus and goad it into a primal state of consciousness. These tempos never quite achieve a tribal mode, remaining pensive and churning thoughts into a passive sine wave, abetting receptivity to mysteries held fast in the mental depths. Shakers (i.e. seed pods) introduce an expectant agitation to the music's ceremonial motif. An electronic presence lends a growling undercurrent that enhances this numinous quest.
While primarily ethereal in definition, the undulant threads provide ample substance, transforming this ambient excursion into a vibrant sonic experience.
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Steve Roach, Byron Metcalf, Mark Seelig 2008 Projekt PRO222 (CD) Reviewed by e/i magazine, Electroambient Space, Guts Of Darkness, Musique Machine, Sonic Curiosity NADA TERMA merges the boundaries of ambient, world music and sacred-meditative styles. On NADA TERMA (translated as "discovering spiritual treasures through the world of sound") East Indian tonalities blend with Sufi-like trance percussion immersed in atmospheres, drifts and drones, arriving at a state of relaxed, focused awareness. The continuously-woven 73-minute piece is sequenced into seven discrete segments, perfect for any listener looking for extended states of awareness, creative enhancement, yoga, bodywork, and deep listening.
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