Antigravity By Chakuna Machi Asa

 

Antigravity

By

Chakuna Machi Asa

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

One of the most exciting new age music releases is now on the scene and called Antigravity by Chakuna Machi Asa, you may remember the artist from her work on Auroral Magic back in 2021, but now she is back with a thrilling ride of simply beautiful and deeply spiritual music to utterly revel in, it’s been a long while since I have heard something quite this good come from the genre, so let’s buckle up and enjoy the ride.

The opening piece is just what we need on this voyage through sight and sound, the swirling synths, flowing keyboards and the gentle and onward percussion leads us on through our forest of tone and timbre on the track Ayahuasca.

Honoring Pachakuti Mesa is our next composition, the soft chimes, light percussive elements and explorative keyboards bring us a truly meditative offering. The vocalisations both forward and the whispers in the background work beautifully on a piece that reminds me in part of Australia’s Lia Scallon, on her more spiritual arrangements.

Now it’s time to dance with the title track, Antigravity. We are welcomed aboard our ship of galactic travel, in a peaceful reverie of keyboard piano based tones, whilst in the background sounds of nature can be heard to totally balance the entire compositional structure in the cleverest and most crafted of ways.

Next up is a legend that could be found in Greek mythological works and called Ganymede, the cup bearer of Zeus, who was given eternal life for doing it. Ganymede is also Jupiter’s third largest moon and is said to be the singing moon too. Here Chakuna brings us one of the most ambient tracks from the album, her presentation on piano here is both meditative and incredibly creative, whilst the natural sounds in the background add another layer of musical description into the weave, I also note that David Vito Gregoli has mastered this album for the artist, and I therefore wondered if the fretless bass found on this track and others was also from his hand, it is delightful.

Provident Manitou is our mid placed offering, this composition has such a pristine nature to its construction, but the tranquil notes are beautifully juxtaposed with the occasional plunging percussive work, whilst Chakuna’s vocals take us to a completely different reality, listening to this one with eyes closed truly alters the perception of the listener, and while again this track is meditative in nature, there is an element in its minor tones that gifts a vibrational energy of change and reflection within its quite stunning confines.

As we run down the hill and into the second half of the album, we come across a short form narrative that is packed with drum and indigenous vocals, ones that most certainly remind me of my time in the Midwest and various powwows that I attended, this then allows us to drift into a new realm of music called Alternate Universe.

The backdrop of nature sounds and careful and respectful piano, matched with the fretless bass gift us a truly lush new age composition that has elements of artists like Oldfield and Thornton intertwined within its structures. Alternate Universe is one of those tracks that you could easily lose one’s self within, it is a dreamy reverie of instrumental music you simply never want to end.

The most powerful and exciting composition is about to rain down with love upon you right now and called Written in the Stars.  Was it not the amazing Carl Sagan who once said “The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” How true, how very true indeed, here Chakuna delivers a wonderfully moving opus of sound that was clearly written in the stars, and I believe one that also contains the skill set of one Silva Blaser on flute also.

We have reached the penultimate track off the album and this gem is entitled Metallic Sun Flowers, this is wonderfully creative and artistically sublime manifestation, one that contains the work of a certain Jason Miller on synths too. The smooth tapestry of sound here is so beautifully palpable and its ambience doubly so.

The last chapter in this wondrous collection of great pieces is now upon us and called Fantasy Land, a deft and spirited presentation on piano can be found here, one that manifests a swirling sound of notes, and moments of an exalted phantasmagorical energy, creating many images of an extraordinary nature in the mind’s eye of the listener.

Antigravity by Chakuna Machi Asa is without a shadow of a doubt the best work so far from the artist, here is a 10 track album that takes the listener on a multitude of beautifully melodic and fascinating journeys, and never wants to let you go. I have been impressed with the work of the artist before, but I believe with Antigravity, she may well not only have a huge chart hit on her hands, but an album that could gift her awards too, this is a release not to be missed and one of the best New Age albums I have heard this decade with ease.