MASK's Heavy Petal...The Tenebrous Odyssey of Jack and Virginia

One must wonder if composers know of a secret formula, known only to exquisite musicians, that allows them to introduce their melodic musings directly into our psyche. Forget the ears, some songs walk straight from the speakers with the fierce conviction of military boots and storm into a hidden corner of our minds.

Years will go by but that sonic memory will remain… In fact, as years go by, you come to the realization that many of your subaltern memories are actually stored as sub-sets of music. You know it instinctively when certain music is played back: your mind recognizes the tune and suddenly, sometimes unwillingly, it unlocks oodles of other subtleties into your consciousness that you didn’t even realize you had noticed…

Suddenly, challenging the linearity of time, you’re there, on the day you heard this song for the first time and the garden or the sunset looked like this or like that. You can even taste the salt lingering in the ocean’s ‘curved air’ that day…

Listening to MASK’s Heavy Petal, the impressive opening collaborative album from two gifted musicians –Marvin Ayres and chanteuse Sonjia Kristina- puts me precisely in that kind of mood. As I listened to the opening two tracks of Heavy Petal –Dark Murmur and Global Incantation- I became officially enchanted…

As the sad cellos of the opening track lead you into track 2, Sonjia’s voice can truly qualify as a healing instrument, especially when you couple it with Ayres’ sensual cellos, violins, keyboards and overall orchestration. There is true chemistry between these two. I’m not sure but I could swear there are some free-form improvisational sessions behind this work.

The album’s 16 tracks qualify as a musical odyssey. Mysteriously, the album is subtitled: The Tenebrous Odyssey of Jack and Virginia. Whoever Jack and Virginia might be, this certainly is a tenebrous journey of sonic landscapes. From orchestrations that remind one of a movie soundtrack to exquisite compositions that combine nothing but keyboards and Sonjia’s ethereal voice.

For those of you out there fans of Enya, MASK’s Heavy Petal should be right up your alley. Expect the same ethereal soundscapes, the same long breathing cycles and soft instrumentation but with its own unique signature.

For those of you who don’t know who Sonjia Kristina is, well, she’s intended it that way all along. No for nothing she was the leader of an Alt-art- rock band called Curved Air. Yes, she knows the glamour of the limelight but prefers content over glitz. Over the years, her musical excursions have only gotten more sophisticated, obscure for some. Lately, she’s even taken Sound Healing and Overtone Chanting with Chris James and Hill Purce. Sonjia’s inquisitions are hardly ever at rest…

After a successful life as a singer for Curved Air, as a mother and wife (to Stewart Copeland of ‘Police’ fame), Sonjia has steadily continued her artistic career and individual collaborations. With the Acid Folk, for example, she’s recorded Songs from the Acid Folk and Harmonics of Love. With William Orbit, she also recorded a single back in the late 80’s. I told you, this wondrous artist has done it all.

Marvin Ayres is no different. In his own right, he’s become a highly sought after ‘ambiance musician’. This sounds easier that it actually is. One must know quite a bit musically in order to understand how to create specific moods and atmospheres using nothing but sounds. And he certainly does. Atmosphere sound speaks in different rhythms than it does in pop music compositions. Instruments played here are meant to evoke more than to please, or to please only if they evoke what the composer wants. Ayres’s compositions behind Sonjia’s voice is nothing short of mesmerizing.

Track #3, Paean, also qualifies as a fave. #10, Lambent Spire is what your mind should hear every time your eyes venture into misty, enchanted forests. If you, like I did, happen to hear Lambent Spire while in the Yoga Cadaver Position, you’ll think you’ve traveled to a hidden paradise for a brief instant.

Lambent Spire is not only a great exploration on Sonjia’s vocal range and Ayres coolly reigned cellos, it truly qualifies as a healing soundscape that inserts itself into your neurons and takes you elsewhere.

Some tracks in this album will become instant favorites. Others, as you find yourself distracted, will sneak up past your logic persona and lodge themselves in some distant synapse inside your head. Only when you hear them back again will you realize that you’ve actually heard them already and that unconsciously, you’ve gotten to like them. Be patient, this is one of those albums that gradually grow on you. I’m not even sure if our pop saturated brains can soak up all the intricate work behind this collaborative.

Myself, like stated above, I’m addicted. MASK’s Heavy Petal is now regularly inside my home CD player… somehow, this music helps me to reminisce, to ‘transcribe and chronicle the sharp colours and jagged contours of my own experience…”

If you’re into ambient electronica (not necessarily of the dance club kind), you should add this album to your collection. You can check out more info on the artists and the album by visiting their site: www.mask.uk.net or visit www.globemusic.com