I saw someone tweeting about this album the other day, and I saved it almost immediately after seeing a short description. According to Discogs, this one track album is in the style of jazz, rock, folk, world, country, and psychedelic rock, while Apple Music classifies the album as Latin jazz, and essentially the only information I can find on the album are from some older seemingly prog rock oriented blogs. This album sounds awesome, and features the guitar, sitar, violin, flute, alto flute, bass flute, saxophone, percussion, electric bass, tabla, and drums, and features 10 different musicians throughout. I’m stoked to hear what’s in store in this album, so with that said, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“Dream Sequence I (feat. Amancio D’Silva)” begins side A of this record with some gentle and gradual droning chords from the sitar, which immediately live up to the name of the group, Cosmic Eye, with the cosmic sound. Holy smokes, a rumbling of drums boils up from the left side of the soundscape, and soon the tabla comes in for some sweet rhythms. Oh wow, the flute seems to cut through the rest of the instrumentation, and at this point, you’re almost being led through a cosmic meadow that is seemingly located between Venus and Jupiter. Oh wow, the electric guitar comes in and brings the music to vaguely familiar territory with some rock sounds, but the tabla, percussion, and flutes quickly take back over to take this groove into some far out territory.
Holy smokes, the sitar comes in and seemingly grasps your ears as all of the other instruments drop out, except the tabla on the other side of the soundscape. Wow, the resulting sound is super serene. Holy smokes, the punchy tone of the clean electric guitar comes in while someone sings a raag on the other side of the soundscape, though there are not really lyrics.
Oh wow, the next movement starts out with what sounds like the bass flute, bringing a bit of jazz inflection to the soundscape while the traditional jazz or rock drum kit begins to produce a bit of swinging beat in the background to seemingly ground this section, while all of the other instruments seem to venture the music even further out into cosmic territory. Oh wow, the bass even picks up a bit of a bebop groove.
Oh wow, the violin almost has an eerie sound as the high notes nearly screech and scratch, which provides an element of ruggedness as though you have already become well-traveled via the music up to this point in the album. Holy smokes, the groove at this point has a mixture of a raga and jazz style with a bit of cosmic inflection, though it’s that falls short as I can barely keep up with the continually evolving style of the album.
Oh wow, this saxophone part with the syncopated drumming takes the tune far out in a completely different direction that’s somewhat reminiscent of Miles Davis’ album, Bitches Brew (1970). During this psychedelic/experimental/far out jazz portion of the album, there’s a light drone from the sitar that I really dig, and provides even more depth to the soundscape. Holy smokes, the flute comes in and someone takes the tune further out just before side A of this record comes to a close. Wow, great music.
“Dream Sequence II (feat. Amancio D’Silva)” starts out with an almost shimmering sound from what sounds to be a gentle, nearly angelic chorus of violins, which as accompanied by some light percussion (possibly marimba? )that has a bit of Latin inflection to them.
Oh wow, the sitar is droning on the right side of the soundscape, while on the left side the tabla plays a gentle rhythm while the punchy clean tone of the electric guitar plays some jazz-inflected licks while what sounds to be the guitarist delicately sings the notes he plays.
Holy smokes, this next movement of the song gets grooving into some far out cosmic territory again, and to me is vaguely reminiscent of the Grateful Dead’s “Dark Star” with how far out some of these jams take you. All of the instruments seem to be beckoning you to follow along simultaneously to each one as they each seemingly venture in completely different directions. Super sweet stuff.
Oh wow, you seemingly land in some semblance of reality as the jazz guitar is the lone instrument for a moment, playing super sweet improvisational jazz lines with a bit of a raga inflection, while the drums come in and seem to sound as if they’re preparing to land an interstellar rocket ship back to solid ground. This section is super groovy, especially as the punchy tones of the jazz guitar gently reverberate throughout the soundscape, as if making you aware of the giant space that has been created in the music.
Oh wow, the next movement contains some very delicate instrumentation from the bass and guitar while what sounds like some strings gradually move about in the background.
Holy smokes, the next section of the tune drops into place with a very heavy raga inclination with all of the instruments currently playing: the guitar, drones of the sitar, bass flute, and the rhythms of the tabla.
Holy smokes, all of the instruments drop out for a moment for the electric guitar to play some distorted psychedelic rock sounding lines for a brief moment, before returning to the sounds of raga with some increasingly intricate playing from the sitar while the tabla keeps a beat. There are some interesting chimes or something that seemingly rain in from the top of the soundscape as well that seem to be a bit reminiscent of the angelic chorus sounds from the beginning of side B of this record. Wow, that’s some sweet music.
Holy smokes, this album is sweet. This is one that is generally unique from anything I’ve listened to in the past. The closest thing I can think of would probably be the Grateful Dead’s “Dark Star” meets Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew (1970), with doses of The Incredible String Band’s album, The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion (1967), infused with even more raga just to be safe. The resulting listening experience was one that kept me on the edge of my seat for the duration of the album. If you’re into mixtures of raga, jazz, and far out improvisational jams, you might want to consider checking out this album. If you do decide to listen to this album, I sincerely hope that you enjoy the listening experience at least as much as I did.
-A