Reviews: Music of the Spheres

aral

Catherine Lara
Higher Octave Music 310/589-1515

With the help of Deep Forest producer Eric Mouquet, French violinist Catherine Lara debuts with a pop New Age release packed with electronic and world overtones suggestive of Enigma and Delerium. Synthesizers, guitars, special electronic vocal samples and effects, and percussion provide the foundation for her frenetic electric fiddle.

On "Unity" and the title track, eclectic keyboards and pop percussion catapult listeners into an ethno-trance groove guaranteed to excite the body and spirit. Lara threads her violin through rich and lustrous synths in "Blue Dawn." An African-style choir chants the upbeat "Requiem for a Dying Sea," driven by pulsing Enya-esque ivories. "In Between Nowhere" shifts terrain to the Celtic lands with a sound similar to Secret Garden, reprised in the anthem-like ballad "Deeplara." A neoclassical piano opens "Yoponomo," giving way to a tribal chant that sounds like pop group Queen singing in Swahili. Aral is one of the most interesting and diverse albums to hit the market in some time.


Ted Cox studied at the Eastman School of Music. He currently is the classical and New Age buyer for Tower Records in Vienna, Va., and the host of a New Age radio program. For review consideration, send music releases to Cox at P.O. Box 7700, McLean, VA 22106.