Hear the Music

    Four "goddesses" contribute to a celebration of cultures. Irina Mikhailova from Russia; Elana Solari the American influence; Sami Kaneda from Japan; and Felicity Tchaco Leye from Africa. How all these goddesses came into the life of Greg Gordon remains a mystery, and it is perhaps best to leave it so. What matters is their music. Irina, the Russian Goddess, is the greatest contributor to this album, being co-author of most of the songs, and also singing on most of the tracks. And it is a good thing. True, Greg's unique production style has its own cohesion, but I think Irina's vocals are what really hold this album together. The opening track, Samsara, features Irina's beautiful harmonies combined with Greg's compelling rhythmic groove. It is one of the best tracks on the album.   Irina also sings on Ylele, which Greg infuses with a British electro-pop undercurrent. Irina's vocal harmonies shine, and these harmonies are one of Irina's greatest strengths. The final track on the album, Malle Modre, features more of Irina's heartfelt emotion and beautiful singing, but I wanted more of the wonderful harmonies here, which made me want to dance!   Molihta is a more lightly orchestrated Irina song, but like all her songs, it engages the listener. Dragonfly is more successful than Molihta; light in spirit, but more fully developed and finely honed than Molihta. Irina is accompanied on this track by a lonely violinist, who plays off in the distance to her whispered incantations. Dragonfly offers a sonic retreat from the energetic A-Free-Ka, featuring African Goddess Feli Tchaco. Her ululations are accompanied by an electric guitar so that the tribal rhythms are rocked out in the western style. The blend is partly successful. Greg Gordon has produced a sonic panorama, but sometimes on this album I lose the focus. The best results are achieved when Greg sticks to a single musical style, because that's what makes a song memorable.   Nowhere is this difference of styles in a single track more evident than in the enigmatic Lalli, which contrasts Japan and Egypt. When Sami Kaneda sings, and she has a very rich voice, the song is Japanese, because Sami brings it there. When instrumentalist and collaborator Reda Darwish sings, the song, along with Reda's Arabic-North African intrumentation, makes the song Egyptian. The contrasts of this song are ultimately distracting, even though the song is beautifully produced. More successful is Sami Kaneda's New Moon Dance. Here we have travelled to Tokyo, and it is like sitting in a Japanese nightclub and listening to the Japanese equivalent of the Steve Miller Band. Sami's voice is complemented by Feli Tchaco's, but the overall feeling is Japanese. There is something very distinctive about the voice trained in the Japanese style. Greg's cool bubbling synth-arpeggiations cascade through the sonic weave. This song definitely breaks ground. But what about the Fourth Goddess, Elana? Where is she. She sings on only one song, and speaks on another. Elana is the mysterious Goddess. She is humoring Greg, it seems, by her enigmatic presence on only two tracks. The overall Gaia Experience is complemented by the truly engaging album artwork by Joseph Browning. I do not say that Joseph's artwork is beautiful because he is my brother. It really is quite beautiful. And yet, one doesn't quite know what to make of the album cover, which features a consternated baby. (In fact, a marketing mistake. Babies do not appeal to the twenty-somethings that are, as I see it, the principal target audience. Nor to the gay audience, who I think could be big supporters.) But opening the trifold, we are treated to an incredible and colorful group portrait of the four goddesses. The women pose in their new-millenium retro-tribal outfits, all except for the enigmatic Elana, who wears black. Blended behind them are design elements which are, for lack of a better descriptor, soul prints. Irina is an Arctic Queen, surrounded by a nimbus of celestial energy; Elana a mysterious Goddess of Flight with her Arch of Eagle Feathers; Sami a Goddess of Fertility, with vines rendered like the borders of a Medieval illuminated manuscript, but also evoking French turn-of-the-century poster art; Felicity wears a headdress of Egyptian reeds. These Goddesses seem to rise from the misty mountains that appear behind them. Unfolding the CD package further, we get a dark blue seascape which serves as the background for track and player information on the left, and lyrics and composer information on the right. A Moon floats in the sky and holds a secret message. And in the center of the trifold, behind the transparent CD mount, we find a sacred geometry with a second portrait of the four Goddesses, and Lo! With them is Producer Greg Gordon. One can examine and meditate on these images while listening to the entire album, and never be bored. Samsara and Malle Modre could both be big hits, and I think Malle Modre could be a dance-house hit with a remix that adds another refrain of the beautiful harmony, and a more danceable edit. (Malle Modre: Dance Mix, coming soon?) All in all, an engaging audiovisual experience!