This Sentence Is True

Sheila Chandra

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 3, 2001)
• Original Release Date: April 3, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Narada
• ASIN: B00005ARDF
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #155,606 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It has been five years since Sheila Chandra released one of 1996's best albums, ABoneCroneDrone. The long-awaited follow-up, This Sentence Is True, continues along the unique path that the Anglo-Indian singer has forged throughout the last two decades. Unlike the sensual ambient works of her previous album, her latest takes a more experimental approach, encompassing vocal techniques ranging from silky smooth to rambunctiously fragmented. The single sonic agenda for the record is diversity. "Mien" offsets Chandra's haunting singing with backward vocal samples, a repetitive piano riff, and crackling sound effects. On "True," the singer's spiritual chanting withstands a slowly swelling wall of sound. The 15-minute epic "AboneCroneDrone 7" weaves subliminal, wordless vocals within a hypnotic sea of drones; oftentimes the singer sounds absent from the piece even though her presence is there. Samples and electric guitar are also incorporated into select tracks by collaborator/producer Steve Coe. And what is the Ganges Orchestra? It is simply an artful appellation for the unorthodox sonic manifestations that Chandra and Coe conjure up for this stimulating aural adventure. --Bryan Reesman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the wait ..., April 12, 2001

By	Devi Bhakta "devi_bhakta" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

After completing her impressive Real World trilogy in the mid-90's, Sheila Chandra disappeared. Her liner notes for this long-awaited follow-up say she spent most of the past five years nursing a voice injury, which explains a lot. After the vocal acrobatics of "Ancestors' Voices" and "Zen Kiss," her final Real World offering, "ABoneCroneDrone," was a dreamy swirl of ambient noise, with Sheila's voice deep in the mix, just one of many half-heard sounds. It was a beautiful effort, though, and one I return to often.

Since then, Sheila has managed to keep her work in the record stores, as several labels (first Shanachie, then Caroline, then Stern's, and now Narada) successively repackaged, remixed, and remastered her seminal Indipop recordings of the 1980's. (Her early work with the Brit pop ensemble Monsoon has also been re-released, and is still in print, on Mercury I think.) I've been a Chandra junkie since I first bought the vinyl version of Quiet back in '84, so I dutifully shelled my hard-earned change for these seemingly endless marketing gimmicks, perhaps hoping that some previously undiscovered glimpses of genius would be uncovered in the remasters.

I didn't find anything that significant, I'm afraid, but I wasn't a bit resentful. Sheila's work is very real, very vital, very worthwhile and very rewarding. More and more, as the years have passed, she's recorded albums that give back to her listeners exactly as much as they themselves bring to the experience of listening. The harder you listen, the more you hear. The more often you listen, the more you hear. That's the best kind of music, in my experience.

Then, in late 1999 and early 2000, Indipop unexpectedly released two more Chandra oddities, titled EEP1 and EEP2, and both recorded under the nom de plume "Ganges Orchestra." They were a couple of very off-the-wall experimental discs playing with various "found sounds" used as musical drones, and with Sheila's voice on a few tracks, again very sparse and low in the mix.

And now -- finally! at last! -- Sheila Chandra is all the way back, with an entire album of new material. And, yes! -- it was worth the wait. "This Sentence is True" is, for the most part, a polished extension of the ideas sketched out on the two EEP discs (which is, I guess, why this album is credited to "Sheila Chandra and the Ganges Orchestra"). But this time, Sheila's voice -- sounding very much in top form (although she says in her notes she's only at about 75%) -- is right at the top of the mix. In other words, this album is all about Sheila's voice, whereas the EEP's (and "ABoneCroneDrone," for that matter) were primarily about drone theory.

"This Sentence is True" is a very experimental album, with lots of dissonant noise, electronic buzzing and ambient oddness -- including manipulated voice clips of Sheila speaking the local tongue to a nationalist crowd at a benefit concert in the former Soviet state of Kazakhstan. But please, don't be put off buy all of this -- because it works beautifully. The album is totally accessible, even on the first listen; probably more accessible than "ABoneCroneDrone."

Which brings us to the final track, the 15-minute-plus "ABoneCroneDrone 7." Whereas the rest of "This Sentence is True" builds off the EEP albums, this closing piece uses her final Real World recording as a touchstone, and ties all of these diverse works together. For added interest, Sheila -- who has (wisely or not, I'm not quite sure) taken to writing extended explanatory notes for just about everything she records -- offers up an extended essay that lays bare the theory and experiences at work behind each track on the album. It reduces the mystery of the whole thing a bit, but will provide useful handholding for those who are unfamiliar with Sheila's previous work or uncomfortable venturing into experimental music. All in all: "This Sentence is True" is a monumental piece of work, and a worthy return to form for one of the most consistently fascinating artists recording today.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of her finest, November 11, 2001

By	Andrew Thomas (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews

Chandra's progression continues with this outstanding effort, albeit in a more experimental vein. Her previous output on Real World focused on a single vocal line, and this album reintroduces vertical layering into her sound. The concept of the drone is still prominent, but the sounds are manipulated more, and white noise is frequently interpolated (most strikingly on True). The vocal ranges also have different timbres, from caustic rattling to vaguely Gregorian atmosphere. The word "derivative" has cropped up in some of the other reviews on this page; I don't buy it for a minute. This is easily one of the most distinct albums released this year, and deserves wide recognition.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a word in the sky, December 10, 2004

By	Erica Anderson (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As I was digging around my cd collection, I came upon Sheila Chandra's "This Sentence is True" tonight. So I threw it into the stereo and cranked up the volume. I haven't listened to the cd in a couple of years because of my constantly changing tastes in music. I believe I had bought this cd because I was on a world music kick and was interested in checking out some Indian music. I don't know what compelled me to buy "This Sentence is True" but I bought it on a whim. I found the opening track "This" a hypnotic song that could easily put anyone in a meditative trance. "Mien" is an interesting song to say the very least. Not one of my favorite songs but it isn't bad. I guess it is because of the beats and scratching that accompanies Sheila's unique vocals. I particularly love the nearly 9 minute opus "True". Just like "This", I found the song to be hypnotic to the ears. Throughout the entire cd, Sheila Chandra's vocals is mixed with electronic beats. "This Sentence is True" is good, it may not be one of my favorite cds but I'm glad I re-discovered it.