Ashram – Human And Divine (CD Album – Dark Vinyl)
Genre/Influences: Neo-classic, cinematographic, chanson.
Background/Info: The Italian trio Ashram is back after a long silence. Hailing from Napoli the band released its self-titled debut album in 2002 on the great Prikosnovénie. I was deeply impressed by the artistic creation of this debut album while the successor “Shining Silver Skies” (2006) released on Equilibrium Music was a tiny bit less convincing. Alfredo Lotarnoberti, Luigi Rubino (both also involved in the great Corde Oblique) and Sergio Panarella are now back on track unleashing the third Ashram album.
Content: Ashram remains inspired by neo-classical music and can be seen as a kind of modern chamber music project. The songs have been composed with piano and violin creating a sad, but beautiful exposure. It’s pure melancholia and reverie. Next to a few instrumental songs you also will discover sensitive and sometimes emotional vocal parts. Ashram brings us little stories; kind of reflection about life, love, spirituality and loss.
+ + + : I’m very thankful Ashram is finally back on track with such a beautiful and deeply artistic piece of music. The violin and piano parts create strong emotion, which together with the sensitive touch of the vocals are bringing this composition to a higher dimension. The songs also have something visual and I often get the feeling to awake in the novels of Jane Austen. It has something pure, but unfortunately platonic and dramatic, but in the end I simply like it! Just pay attention to “Air”, which is a pure sonic jewel.
– – – : There’s not a lot of diversity between the songs, but I’m not complaining when listening to such a little masterpiece.
Conclusion: Ashram is back and that’s really great news, but the main thing is that their work excels in beauty, senses and sensibility…
Best songs: “Air”, “Elevation”, “When The Moon Dance”, “Spirituality”, “Elisewin 1997”.
Rate: (8½).
Since you’re here … … we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive. If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
