Incantation By Tayu

 

Incantation

By

Tayu

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

For this review we go close to home, far from anything you have ever imagined, and travel to lands musically familiar and brand new, confused? Don’t be, this brand new offering by Tayu (meaning, as of yet unnamed), is that breath of fresh air that breathes new life into the new age music industry I have been a part of for some 20 plus years.

Incantation is one of the most vibrant openers you ever going to wish to find on your musical sojourns and Myriad on vocals sets the scene perfectly, while Mahhrk adds such a flavour to the percussive proceedings with a full flowing guitar. This one reminds me of two personal friends in Nigel Shaw and Carolyn Hillyer, in there days as Riven or perhaps Global with that wonderful pagan styled vibe, it also made me miss the tree frogs from the stream that runs close to my home.

We now move to the offering Gaia, oh as humanity, how we test the patience of our mother, the more expected Spanish guitar drifts across this composition from Mahhrk, while the strings, both Violin and Viola, (Melisa Cox) are in perfect harmonic resonance with the ethereal vocals of Myriad, a track that contains a lush sense of a global energy, with notes of an eastern flavour.

The short form track Prayer moves us ever onwards, Myriad gifting us the floating vocalise to enjoy, before we once more bathe within the musical ocean with the track Breath. Cox on strings creates such a reflective mood, which of course only the Violin and Viola can do, then an almost rock guitar from Mahhrk drifts across our oasis of pleasure, in a style I have not heard since the album War of the Worlds, (Jeff Wayne, Chris Speeding).

Enchanted Forest gave us Mahhrk’s acoustic guitar to revel in; the natural sounds set the scene perfectly, while a little hats off goes to Digidave, for well yes, the didgeridoo arrangements, which made this one for me one of the most fascinatingly different, yet fluent offerings off the album.

Mahhrk and the Spanish guitar may seem familiar to you, and so it should, you have heard him many times on the radio, but I’m not going to spoil that for you, you’re going to have to buy the album and investigate yourselves, however it is both beautiful and soothing, and transports us to a land I know so very well indeed, in fact right up on the sands and beaches of the Shores of Atlantis themselves.

Now this is where it gets a little freaky, as many of you who know me, will also know I broadcast a show called Shores of Atlantis on the radio, and many will also know I live in Cyprus, which is said by many, Plato in the main, to be part of what eons ago would have been known as Atlantis.

Now I have played this piece several times, and each time I do I feel the urge to walk the 10 minutes or so to the shore line and listen to this live whilst bathing in the energies of Atlantis itself. Musically this is utterly sublime a wonderful joint effort, Mahhrk excels and also on Native American flute, now that’s something I didn’t know about him, and with Myriad’s other worldly vocals, manifests the best composition from the album with ease, perfect tempo, creative arrangements, one that builds a splendid vista of the said location and more.

Incantation by Tayu is without doubt the best new age album that’s come across my desk in a long while; its production quality is lush and colourful, whilst each and every performance within this fine collection is absolutely brilliant. It is so nice to hear an album like this again, a classy collection of truly enjoyable songs, that is not afraid of being New Age and proud, this one is easy to recommend.