Orchid [Import]

ishq | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 24, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Pacific Music Canada
• ASIN: B00007LL1L
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,418 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Skyblue

2. Yu

3. Opal

4. Daisy

5. Cyandragonfly

6. Bhakti

7. Arc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is nothing quite like it., August 10, 2006

By 

Professor DADGAD (Pennsyltucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orchid (Audio CD)

This is a lush, nuanced, and very satisfying recording. I am not a particularly big fan of the genre, but this album is good art, period.

I heard the song "Bhakti" on NPR and immediately dropped in a cassette. The next day I ordered the disc and it has been in and out of heavy rotation for four years. When I heard that first cut I thought to myself "this is what dying sounds like"...then, six months later I heard the artist interviewed and he said he composed the song while a relative was dying and he was struggling to understand what the relative was experiencing. He was absolutely successful in communicating that idea to me.

If "Bhakti" is the centerpiece of the album, the rest works wonderfully around it. I absolutely agree with the first reviewer that the album is worth twice the price.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Matt Hillier and his amazing techno-ambient soundscape, August 30, 2008

By 

William E. Fason (Houston) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Orchid (Audio CD)

Ishq is the band comprising Matt Hillier and Jacqueline Kersley of St. Ives, Cornwall, in the UK. The word "ishq" means love, with the connotation of divine love, in Persian and Hindi. I first heard Ishq on the syndicated program Music From the Hearts of Space, and was hooked right away. It's as if Matt and Jacqueline traveled to another world, and have brought back textured layers of sound which cannot be easily described, although I suppose that labels such as "techno-ambient" or "psychedelic trance music" will have to do. It's polished without being slick, it's innovative and eclectic without being needlessly abstruse or the least bit pretentious. Each cut on the album is distinct, and yet each piece of music so easily glides into the next cut as to invite a complete listening. The album starts off with Skyblue, a mellow, down tempo, chill music number before gliding into calming and meditative Yu. Opal is positively hypnotic, and flows effortlessly into the beatless Cyandragonfly and then the ethereal and wonderful Bhakti, the highpoint of the album. I would have to agree with the professor's review describing Bhakti (the word means "pure spiritual devotion") as a musical depiction of dying. The piece has a mournful quality, conveying grief but also hope, serenity, and transcendence. Jacqueline's vocals are wonderful and inspiring.

While this album is not for everyone, I loved it and still enjoy listening to it. I give it five stars.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful musical journey, April 9, 2006

By 

Steve Fredericks "media consumer" (Fla) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orchid (Audio CD)

If you enjoy ambient music - that electronic, new age, instrumentals-only kind of music - then this one is definitely a great start. Ishq takes you through soundscapes that are connected yet unique in their own right. This is one of those albums you begin on track 1 and just play through in order since one song blends into the next. It's worth twice the price.

CD cover can be viewed at http://www.ambient.us/shop/popup_image.php?pID=72