Cobalt Friends Vertical Tunnels The Cat Patio Wall River Farm 144 Temple Ritual Ultima Thule Moonlight Tides Lord Shield Pakal Swimming Cobalt Waters In Fifth Densities

product info

Antonio Asher Wright - instruments Caroline Wilson and Aariana Korkosova - voice.

review

Ashera's Cobalt 144 will reward you as one of the most essential ambient recordings your collection will ever contain. Until word spreads it will also be the one obscure disc that your listening mates will be fawning over. It is pure joy to watch and listen as others discover the magic of Cobalt 144.Ashera's members are Antonio Wright * instruments, Caroline Wilson * voice, and Aariana Korkosova * voice. Cobalt 144 is the second release, "Ambient Selections" being the first, from this amazing trio of musicians based in Sydney Australia. Cascading, breathy voices, underpinned by mercuric synthesizer washes are highlighted with treated guitar work as "Cobalt Friends" unfolds with the distant perspective of the seductive call of mythological sirens caressing your ears. As one draws nearer, and drawn in you will be, the aptly named second track "Vertical Tunnels" changes the tonal palette ever so slightly,placing sonic boundaries upon the soundstage. Thus drawing the music closer around you, molding itself, through the perspective of swirling ethereal sirens voices tangible enough to touch as you feel yourself guided along the tunnel walls towards the waiting and mysterious unknown. Liquid sounding keyboards float about as nature envelops your aural senses with visions of feline stealth and languid repose in the cathedral ceilingsound field of "The Cat" . Wonderment abounds, under watchful eyes, as you gaze about, uncertain of what lies ahead, viewing what appears to be a jump point or portal staging area to the destinations that await you."Patio Wall" is the portal you seek. As a new denizen of Cobalt 144 you will marvel as the essence of life is beautifully woven during a visit to "River Farm" . The paths that follow lead you to the principles of the land, revealed in the tracks "144" , the Cobalt way of life, with deep earthly roots, "Temple Ritual" and the homage to the airwaves in "Ultima Thule". The remaining tracks are those that change and engage the listener's introspective thought process the most upon each successive listening session. More akin to favorite characters or scenes from an exquisitely rendered fantasy realm wherein the author deftly sculpts believable landscapes, dialogue exchange, and scenarios. One bathes in "Moonlight Tides" , enters into discourse with "Lord Shield Pakal", gains insight while "Swimming Cobalt Waters" and finally is rewarded by dwelling "In Fifth Densities" at the works close. Cobalt 144 is easily one of the best fantasy adventures of the year... and amazingly enough, not a page to turn or joystick to jostle to become immersed in and embraced by Ashera . Pure artistic entertainment, an audiophile treat for those systems capable of displaying air and nuance, and finally, an enthralling, to die for dream, for headphone worshippers. Cobalt 144 is highly recommended as an essential addition to every Ambient collection. 1999 © BEAR

review

Ashera (a.k.a. Anthony Asher Wright) has been the talk of the ambient/spacemusic crowd for the latter part of 2000. When I finally heard his CD Cobalt 144, I understood why. Strikingly original and at times almost ethereally beautiful, this album is a marvel. I must have listened to the CD more than ten times before I even began formulating the review in my mind. The individual cuts on Cobalt 144 are, at times, quite diverse, yet the album is so cohesive, that I had a hard time "focusing" until I realized I should just go along for the ride. So, that's what I did. First off, I want to apologize ahead of time for any errors I make in the factual part of this review. The font used for liner notes on the album is, in my opinion, nearly impossible to read. While I abhor critics who bitch about such things, (and it doesn't influence my love of the album one whit), I do think that choosing aesthetics over legibility to this degree is, at least somewhat, a mistake. Well, with that said, on to the music. The album opens with one of the highlights, Cobalt Friends. Mixing delicate wordless (or maybe there are words there) female vocalizings, synths that fade in and out of focus, and what sounds like Jeff Pearce-like ambient guitar, the song blew me away with it's sense of spaciousness and it's mysterious serenity. Imagine Jeff Pearce mixed with SAW II Aphex Twin and you might approach this. Next, Vertical Tunnels brings the female vocals more front and center and the mood becomes even more ethereal. Ashera has produced some really unique ways of using vocalizings as part of this music.This is unlike a lot of what you have probably heard. At first, I was reminded of Liquid Mind, but then I thought, "No, this is more spacy." Whatever you compare it to, the use of lower register synths as a counterpoint is handled with almost surgical precision.Things get very different with the minimal The Cat which features crickets and other "night" sounds balanced against heavily revered synth notes with a semi-chime-like sound. Aqueous' Entertaining Angels came to mind, but Ashera's music is more rooted in ambient sensibilities and less in the improvised and more experimental British duo's domain. Although there is certainly a risky air to this cut and it does have that same Eno/Budd-esque element to it.There are twelve songs all total on Cobalt 144 and each one unwinds slowly to reveal it's own window on gentle and floating ambient soundscapes.River Farm brings back the crickets and other night critters amidst impressionistic synths and what sounds like electric piano. The gentleness of this piece is almost palpable. Yet there is no trace of "new age" on this recording. Despite the presence of nature sounds, the praise that this artist receives from hard core ambient fans is proof positive that Ashera is not being passed over just because he likes crickets (I do too, for that matter!).At more than thirteen minutes, the track called 144 is a patient exercise in synth washes and floating tonalities. Fans of the more ambient work of, for example, Danna and Clement, would (I'd wager) think they had died and gone to bliss heaven. This is followed by the Larry Kucharz-like Temple Ritual and that yields to the dark and shadowy Ultima Thule, full of swirling synths, drones, and pealing guitar notes. Not truly dissonant, the song does have noir elements running through it just the same. The album concludes with a great spacemusic drifter, In Fifth Densities, a subtly spiraling number that brings the album to a solid close. I have two more albums from this artist still to review. Based on what I have heard so far, the praise heaped on Ashera is well-deserved. Cobalt 144 is filled with ambitious, even ingenious music. It stands several ambient conventions on their posteriors and strikes out in some interesting directions. Frankly, I can't believe this guy is not going to be a major player - and soon. Hell, he may be one already! 2000. © Bill Binkelman / Wind & Wire

review

Ashera is an Australian artist whose ambient productions are very much in the "classic" spirit of Brian Eno. You will hear the by-now-familiar sounds of Ambient in Cobalt 144: rhythm-less floating synthesizer or electric guitar tones, sighing and whispering wordless female voices, tinkling or rattling percussion accents, heavily filtered electric piano notes, bells, and environmental sounds. All the tracks are soft in volume, designed to be a kind of "audible incense" to perfume the environment.Even though the style of these pieces doesn't offer a lot of variety or change, and they are (as it were) designed to be ignored, it is worth listening more closely to one or two of the tracks, because Ashera has added some smooth and pleasant tone-colors to his delicate mix. His chord choices are an ultra-diluted tincture of modernist jazz. Track 6, 144, which is longer than the others at about 13 minutes, is especially pretty. It drifts along on sonic shimmer with a few moments of heavier percussion and gongs, and at some points actually gets loud. Another longer track, number 8, Ultima Thule, has a slightly "darker" feel but is also good listening. (Note: I think these are the titles; this album has the most unreadable type I've ever encountered on a CD cover.) Like a lot of the more successful "soft ambient" sounds, these pieces give the feeling of gazing into a reflecting pool of water, which is occasionally stirred by wind, or by fish just below the surface. Ashera's music certainly does its job of calming the listener down; in fact, it can get downright sleep-inducing. It's best to listen to this album late at night, or at least at some time when you don't mind slipping off into dreamland. 2001. © Hannah M.G. Shapero