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Geographic records just doesn't let you down. This release, featuring members of Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub, Superstar and the Pastels, brings you an uplifting musical journey through time and place. Sushil K. Dade has put together a likeable bunch of songs, from Beat of a Drum, featuring Norman Blake and Eugene Kelly, with its melodic, psychedelic pop, to Rhadhika (wherein our Norm switches to the drum kit) with its lazy, hazy guitar strum. Om Namah Shivaya is one of the album's traditional Sanskrit hymns, interpreted beautifully through the voice of B&S' Stuart Murdoch, with airy layers of instrumentation and pouring from the speakers like a ten minute pipe-dream. Shree Ram, Jai Ram and Opel Waters (the latter featuring Stephen Pastel's guitar) add even more to the atmosphere of an extended dream sequence. Tiny Waves, Mighty Sea, despite the high-profile super-group personnel remains a cohesive, melodic and traditional collection very much the vision of Dade. Sweet and fragile at times, it travels through exotic pop, back-porch style guitar and a capella vocals together with Sanskrit which, added up, equals a beautifully composed whole.

Louise Zervas
CWAS #7 - Spring 2001

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