ELIVIA MELODEY'S CRYSTAL VIBRATIONS

Journey to Wholeness

Crystal Vibrations Music (2002)

review by Bill Binkelman

I love this CD! All of the instruments played on it have existed for centuries: crystal bowls, chimes, rainsticks, gongs, assorted hand and steel drums, flutes and a few others. There is little here in the way of traditional structured melody (brief melodic elements surface now and then on flutes). This is also not a type of world fusion music or the "usual" new age music either. Instead, Journey to Wholeness is improvised meditative music, pure and simple. Per the liner notes, it was recorded live (at Spotted Peccary studios, no less) with no manipulations and all in one evening. The artists are Elivia Melodey and Gaye Unverferth, each one of them playing more or less the same instruments.

I listened to this album on headphones during a late night walk and it mesmerized me. In fact, you will only appreciate this album's special brand of magic on headphones or on speakers in a very quiet environment. You can try to listen to this as background music, but you will never be able to "tune in," in my opinion.

The seemingly endless reverberations and sustain (from the bowls as they are either struck or rimmed) sens chills down my spine. The spiritual sound of the chimes, sometimes barely struck and at other times hit more forcefully, mixes with the bowls to create a mystical listening experience. In addition, the improvisational flow of each of the five tracks (ranging from seven and half to twenty-three minutes in length) actually heightens the impact of the music somehow, as if adding a deeper connection between performer and listener.

Describing the music in detail is difficult and somewhat pointless. "Chakra Alignment" is very minimal and concentrates on the bowls and chimes, sometimes holding a drone or tone for long periods, while at other times letting assorted notes/tones coalesce, as if water droplet ripples were intersecting in a reflection pool. "Colloquium" is somewhat more "active" featuring more striking of chimes and the use of a steel drum. The struck notes are arrhythmic (i.e. of an irregular rhythm) and again, for me, this almost "random" pattern evokes much more of positive reaction from me than if the notes held a noticeable "beat." A kalimba (in the liner notes, spelled "kalinda") is also used, but played in almost progressive free jazz style, even though it's quite understated so that my use of the term "jazz" is not an accurate descriptor, I suppose. "Gaia Guardians" brings out tribal-esque Buffalo drums, flutes and rainsticks, painting the soundscape in earthy, primal and Native colors (the rainsticks are echoed a la Roach and Rich-style). There are two final pieces as well, "Higher Joys" (seventeen plus minutes long) and the title track (twenty-three minutes in length). A simplistic description of them would be "more of the same of what has come before," but that sounds negative, doesn't it? Even if it is somewhat accurate, that's not the point. This music is not supposed to be jarringly different from song to song. Personally, I never tired of hearing these instruments. It didn't matter to me when nothing "dramatic" (meaning from a melodic or rhythmic standpoint) happened for minutes on end. That's not the point of this recording, from what I can tell.

Many people would automatically label this CD as new age music (and, being honest, it is), but Journey to Wholeness is nothing like recordings from other genre labels, e.g. New World Music, New Earth Records or Real Music (all of them fine labels, by the way). Some people will probably find this album to be inaccessible, too "weird," or too rambling, since it's naked improvisational nature is totally obvious from start to finish. That's a matter of personal taste, I suppose. I may be barking up the wrong tree here, but I think this album would hold solid appeal to those who count Robert Rich's Rainforest or Loren Nerell's lillin dewa among their favorites. For me, listening to Journey to Wholeness is a transportive experience. When I immerse myself in this music, I am taken away from whatever was plaguing my conscious mind. Maybe you'll think me highly impressionable, but even if I am, I still highly recommend this recording.