STHANA EKANTA

'Sthana Ekanta' - Senmuth (5/10)

As expressed by Senmuth himself, this album is essentially a sequel to the earlier album 'Swadhisthana;' a continuation of his tribute to India and it's 'centuries-old culture.' By using an array of Indian music samples thrown into his robotic mix of industrail metal, 'Sthana Ekanta' is a work of music that gets the concept of 'exotic' down right. Unlike many works of the man where the ethnic elements sound hollow and fake, the result of the samples gives a more authentic feeling than is typically heard on an album by Senmuth.

The composition and songwriting itself is nothing to write home about; Senmuth has always been an artist that is better distinguished for his abilities of arrangement over the core writing. Much of the writing merely 'flows,' it leaves neither a lasting impression, nor does it repulse the listener. What it does do however, is give a fertile ground for Senmuth to sport a very keen atmosphere and vibe that runs throughout the majority of the album. Recordings of Indian singers (both male and female) are played here amidst a mixture of traditional raga sounds and a more mechanical electronic rhythm, with metal flourishes here and there to help maintain the Senmuth sound.

While I did not care for 'Swadhisthana' all too much, 'Sthana Ekanta' certainly seems like an improvement over it's predecessor. It's not an excellent album by any means, and never at any point served to catch my attention in a big way. For fans of Senmuth's more ambient and ethnic leaning side of music however, this is certainly recommended.

The 2008 is a period during which Senmuth appears to be looking back to its roots. After a number of newage flavoured albums Valery went back to the industrial sounds of the beginnings with Rezonans. Now with this "Shtana Ekanta" he returns to the Vedan astrological theme of Swadishtana. Shtana is a word related to the planets' movement in the vedan astrology.

What we have here is a fusion of the indo-ethnic elements with the distorted techno sounds typical of the debuts.

"Atman Vikarah" which follows a short opener, is chaotic and full of orchestral accents and as often happens, is closed by few seconds of ethnic music only. Not bad but it souds already heard.

"Samplavah" is more interesting. The repetitive bass line gives it a touch of krautrock while the vocals are particularily good. I don't know if it's Valery's voice without the usual distortion. If so, he should sing in this way more often.

The acoustic pieces are becoming more frequent, and "She Izvara" is an excellent one. Two minutes of steel guitar strings dunned by a classical guitar with a captivating melody. Sad instead of dark. Should I prepare a compilation of Senmuth this is a track that I would put in.

"Kratu Praja" sounds like an artsy moment coming from the 80s. Still very ethnic specially in the vocals, but with the electronic parts reminding to bands like Ultravox.

One minute of darkness with "Tarah" and its very nice female voice. It's near to psychedelic.

"PalAyana Vega" features a very good female singer. Unfortunately there are no credits but she may be Nastya Turenkova. It's one of the album's highlights and represents the Senmuth's idea of easy-listening.

"Prana" brings us at the bottom of the hymalaian chain. The opening flute sounds chinese but it has indian and arabian influences. It makes me think to Kashmere.

If it wasn't for the strong indian flavour "Azrita Ratri" could be exchanged for an Edgar Froese song. Electronic bass with other instruments coming and going but maintaining a sort a continuity.

Other two minutes of classical guitar. There are products to avoid the noise produced by the sliding fingers...apart of this little technicality as all the acoustic things made by Senmuth I really like it. This is "Asmi".

"Sthira Nirvanam" is just another piece of Indian music. Let's skip.

"Rasah" is not much different from the previous. Not bad, but nothing special.

"Anta Kali Yuga" proceeds on the same line, industrial metal in the first part, electronic-indo in the second.

The closing minute of "Sindhi" doesn't add anything.

So an average Senmuth's album with a couple of highlights, Palayana Vega and Asmi over the rest.

3 stars