LUNATICA

LUNATICA is the seventh album by the Georgian musical act LAOZI (named after the ancient Chinese philosopher and poet who wrote the "Tao Te Ching," the inspiration for Taoism.) LUNATICA is an album inspired by the vision of the moon according to the founder and main contributor Sandro Tskitishvili. LAOZI is very much about the hypnotic and detached side of the darkness thing, which like Taoism and other Eastern religious dogmas is the perfect soundtrack for meditation and general getaway from all the Earthly lameness that plagues our reality.

1. Set Me Free At Midnight (feat. Dave Long and Zozimo Rech) (7:09) Reminds me a bit of Marty Friedman's "Scenes" in which Marty hooks up with Japanese new ager Kitaro to make some seriously delicious East meets West with the new age, guitar and percussion working together in tandem to create a nice free flowing tribute to the moon which the entire album is dedicated to.

2. 23 (2:25) This one has more of a classical feel bringing J.S. Bach to mind with a catchy melodic hook that is shared between two distinct melodies that weave together pretty well but probably my least favorite track of the album as it is just OK and doesn't have a chance to unfurl its magic as many other tracks do.

3. Radiation (7:39) This is a strange little piece that starts out rather ominously and becomes more of a cheerful Mike Oldfield sounding piece that reminds me of the new age tracks that compromise his "The Songs Of Distant Earth" album with the steadily marching percussion, the subdued kind of electronic induced choral effect and the tinkling of a piano type instrument which eventually reaches a kind of radioactive decay that gains momentum and then fizzles out in a monotone.

4. Lightwalk (5:33) Another classically inspired little addictive melody that simply takes the powerful melodic classical musical possibilities and mixes it with the sonic embellishments of new age. It perhaps lives up to its title in that it is a light and fluffy track that embarks on a subtle journey from an addictive hook that breaks off into two complementary melodies, which seems to be the secret of this album. It's also a track that inspires me to add my own operatic nonsensical lyrics to it!

5. Lunatica Suite (13:14) The most lunar of all the tracks here. Imagine a progressive lullaby on one of those music boxes that instead of having limited possibilities before it repeated, it could expand its sonic forces into the the most illuminated lunar reflecting pools that subdues your inner werewolf and makes the darkness your friend. It also has a kind of X-Files theme song feel to it lending an alien yet accessible feel to the whole thing. This track has several melodic movements and is the epitome of classical musical composition meets new age and progressive electronic sensibilities.

The fact that this is generally tagged into the progressive electronic scheme of things can be a little misleading for those expecting a Kraut-induced trippy kind of album that is designed to escape reality. This is a different beast. It is gentle in nature. It is first and foremost emphasizing melodic developments with the other factors such as electronic manipulations, musical fusion and avant-garde characteristics being secondary. This is moon music, the kind you can put on and fall asleep to. If i could create my own sub-genres at will, i would call this a progressive lullaby album where you can stimulate certain parts of your brain while being totally relaxed and feeling safe that there are no monsters under your bed. I have listened to this many times solely to find if this held up after repeated listens and after quite a few, i have to say that i still love it! Highly recommended for anyone interested in the possibilities of progressive electronic fusion with classical and new age.