| Issue
#71
Feb. '05
OK,
I’ll be the first to admit I needed an atlas to help me with
my geography on this one.
Listing
Ireland
as their hometown, The Unseen
Guest sent us their CD with a Singapore
postmark. Further investigating found that the
songwriting team of Declan Murray
(from
Ireland) and Amith Narayan (from
India) had
crossed paths in South India and sometime after that gotten together in
Mumbai (Bombay) to
develop what was quickly becoming a very interesting, intense,
intricate, and unique style
and sound. With the help of a half dozen local musicians from
Amith’s hometown of Calicut
in Kerala, India,
The Unseen Guest
created Out There, a CD the
combines the basic western
singer/songwriter style with that of Traditional Mid-Eastern/Indian
instruments and sound.
Prepare
yourself to be mesmerized, to be whisked off on a magic carpet ride
– Dig
the sound – It digs deep within the soul. Such an astonishing
sound purges forth that
you cannot help but get into the tunes themselves, each one remarkably
laid out in
exquisitely arranged jams. Want to reach the inner soul of the music?
Listen, listen to
the live jams and the intensity of the leads. Song after song features
a bridge that
carries a lead solo alternating through such a varied and nuanced trade
off with another
more exotic and interesting instrument to produce an introspection that
can’t help
but lend itself to the lyrics, yet 3 songs in and all I am raving about
is the
instrumental dance of each song that leads us through one of the most
solemn, intrinsic,
and personal journey of peacefulness that I’ve encountered in
a long time.
It
all owes itself to Declan and Amith’s ability to utilize the
beautiful,
tranquil sounds of every exotic Indian instrument I have never heard
of. Some of these,
like the tablas, mridangam, dholaks, ganjra, ghadam, edakka, and
thavil, I can’t even
pronounce, let alone spell – hell, I couldn’t even
spell ‘em if they
weren’t listed in the liner notes. In fact, I do not even
know what either an edakka
or a ganjra sounds like (nor many of the others), but I can tell you
that I can hear them
all here on this disc, and it is an amazing discovery of sound. I
suggest headphones.
Moreover, I, being a dinosaur of a purest, still do not listen to
5.1-channel sound –
yet. However, if any disc would get me to consider making such an
upgrade to my stereo
system, it would be this one by The Unseen
Guest. Out There could
end up being a catalyst for
5.1-channel sound systems much in the same way that Pink
Floyd’s Dark Side of the
Moon made people go out and purchase Quadraphonic sound systems in the
early 70s.
Accenting
and deriving a solid rhythm section from the Indian percussion, which
relies
heavily on hand drums, wood blocks and many others, interspersed with
the various stringed
delicacies of the culture (more than once The Beatles sitar/Ravi
Shankar and The Rolling
Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request period of psychedelic
experimentation is
recalled), it’s Declan’s and
Amith’s guitars that shine throughout. Declan’s
electric/slide/acoustic/bass
guitars and Amith’s mandolin/electric/acoustic/bass guitars
– mixed and matched
in any and all combinations strike deep to the soul in a pure musical
frenzy. A perfect
example of this is the middle portion of the disc, from the middle
up-tempo bridge jam of Listen
My Son
to the five-minute, slow, haunting instrumental Mangala Express and the
relentless bongos that
fuel the acoustic rhythms churning around a high strung mandolin (or is
that one of the
exotic instruments I can’t pronounce?) in Sandalista. It is not hard to
lose ourselves in
what we can actually feel and picture. So vivid a picture develops of
these artists
gathered around in a stone and tiled room of a Mid-Eastern Temple, laid
out with fine
fabrics and rugs, the smell of incense and opiates rising, while each
artist is transfixed
on not only playing his particular instrument, but possessed and bent
on intertwining it
with the others in a romantic dance that transcends mere mortal being
and rises to an
existential plane that each individual strives to visit, yet needs the
accompaniment of
another/others to achieve, that we realize The
Unseen Guest is our ticket to this deep philosophical
enrichment of life. To put it
mildly, these guys rock so intensely with these instruments, you
can’t help to be
awed by it all.
Want
more? The Title track, Out There,
starts with light acoustic chords joined by several block and bass
rhythms and a lead
acoustic guitar before the Harmonium kicks in. Yes a Harmonium, and man
does it sound so
sweet, it just pumps along and puts a crowning touch on what is another
in a disc filled
with remarkable sounds and songs. And, while we’ve been
remiss in addressing the
lyrics (it’s all the music’s fault ;-), it is here
where Declan’s lead
vocals give us a very Berlin era David Bowie playing Tony Bennett
crooner feel that draws
our attention to the words this duo have used to give even more
sustenance to what we have
been experiencing: a worldview that issues forth a slice of the reality
of humanity - its
ups, downs, virtues and faults. Some songs will cause you to wonder,
others will call
forth your sympathy for those less fortunate. Some contrast the
beautiful aura set forth
by the music with tales of individual (and to a point collective)
destitute, be they
material or spiritual, such as in One Down, a sad tale of
injustice at many
(personal) levels, all delivered in a solemn ballad that summons forth
the power of a
Harvest era Neil Young harmonica crying throughout.
I
may have needed the atlas to understand in geographical terms where The Unseen Guest was coming from, but it
is their
music that is the map to an inner journey of intense tranquility.
It’s Out There…
Come
and get it.
Out There
by The Unseen Guest
is available now for: $11.98 +s/h*
"Imported
from Singapore"
View
Shopping Cart / Checkout
Accepting Credit Cards and PayPal
*Shipping
&
Handling charges:
USA - $3.00
for the first 2 CDs
ordered,
Add $1.50 per each CD after.
Canada - $5.00 for the
first
CD ordered,
Add $2.00 per each CD after.
Everywhere else -$7.00
for the
first CD ordered,
Add $3.00 per each CD after.
|
