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The Sounding Board by R J Lannan |
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RJ Lannan is the reviewer for The Sounding Board. |
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| Bindu |
| By Michael Brant DeMaria |
| Label: Ontos Music |
| Released 12/13/2011 |
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| Bindu tracks |
1. The Way Beyond
2. Journey Within
3. Anahata
4. Twilight
5. Other Side of Silence
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6. Journey to Nowhere
7. Timeless Dawn
8. Bindu
9. Tripura Sundari
10. Turiya
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Internal Epiphany |
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Michael Brant DeMaria states that Bindu, the title of his latest flute meditation album, is a Sanskrit word for point. It could be point of origin, point of creativity or for me, and my loose interpretation, a starting point. A point in which one sees a light, maybe just as a glimmer, but something unmistakable and promising. Bindu has ten tracks of flute and synth music that is relaxing and quite pensive. Michael's latest recording is acknowledgement of the here and now. It does cross over to atmospheric from time to time, but that is a gift of the music. Bindu is his third release of music for healing associated with his Ontos Healing Sound Project Series.
Michael DeMaria is a Grammy-nominated musician, psychologist, writer and speaker with three books and a half-dozen award winning and well-accepted albums. His music ranges from Native American flute to Ambient to New Age with a reoccurring theme of meditative and calming tunes.
The Way Beyond, the opening cut of Bindu, is to me the swishing sound of a door opening, like the intake of air with just a slight pull of vacuum. It is the beginning of the journey and the possibility of adventure. The tune is light, slightly upbeat and energetic, all attesting to its positive vibrations.
Anahata is the sound of one hand clapping. In the Vedas it is the concept of heavenly music, sometimes unheard by mere mortals such as I. Michael's composition fine tunes the beauty of high octave piano to render a melody of echoing space-like music. It begins and ends with a breath taken, held and exhaled, an intrinsic concept of life itself.
The title of Other Side of Silence intrigued me and I was not disappointed in what I heard. It is a soft, reverberating tune with Tibetan bowl resonance and an inorganic chorus that acts as enticement, a sort of musical magnet to the psyche. Apparently the other side of silence might be the buoyant beauty of sound. This one turned out to be a favorite for its ability to encourage relaxation after a few moments of play.
Michael's flare for New Age music is evident in the tune Tripura Sundari. The title refers to the Beautiful Goddess of Three Cities, the cities not being actual towns, but states or planes of existence. The piano and washes of synth music join together with subtle drones that praise the young goddess as the giver of wisdom. It is the perfect tune to lower the curtain on the album.
Turiya ,the final tune, is an idea of transcendentalists that embraces the highest ideal of enlightenment and it may be equal to my Christian concept of touching the face of God. What I took away from the song was a strong sense of awe. The word awesome is this generation’s idea of "cool", but awesome to me is the old concept of being struck by something that overpowers the senses. This song has strongly approached my notion.
DeMaria has been on an interesting musical journey with his last three albums. The concepts that represent his music have traveled around the world, but I think that they still have not come full circle. He started out in North America and he is heading east, but the journey continues. It will, be quite interesting to be where the circle comes together, musically, that is. |
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Rating: Very Good  |
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- reviewed by RJ Lannan on 7/13/2012 |
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