DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT: KI

3- (minus) A cool off album from Devin Townsend. Some Ying after years and years of Yang, some sort of return to nature (which I think will be short). After the extreme Ziltoïd, Devie brings us down to the basics. The main words here could be "simple" and "natural". Nothing too fancy, no complexe progressions, no violent guitars, no (or very few) growls. Ki is Devin after Yoga, zen and in touch with nature. The sound is still of top quality as usual, but I wasn't completely convinced with the material. I was expecting something that would sound like the opener to Synchestra... but Ki is harder to get into, especially the first tracks that are a bit too repetetitive and lacking ambience (who would have imagined this guy lacking ambiance...). Maybe a more detail orchestral work would have done better here, because the simplicity doesn't fit Devin's voice and music too well. Still, this is an enjoyable album with nice tunes, and I really like the clean guitar sounds Devin can pull off.