TRADITIONAL FEATURING ANNA NACHER

The definition of their band name ATMAN says a lot about their sound, which is a Hindi word that means the individual soul or essence that is eternal, unchanging and indistinguishable from the essence of the universe. This ATMAN is from Poland. There are two other bands with the same name from Brazil and Spain. This highly experimental band was formed all the way back in 1981 by multi-instrumentalists Marek Styczynski, Marek Leszczynski and Piotr Kolecki. They set out to create an ethno-folk collective with a rotating cast of vocalists and musicians to help out. On this final release we get the hauntingly beautiful Anna Nacher who can at times remind you of Lisa Gerrard or even Dimanda Galas.

This collective has successfully mastered the timeless beauty of what they themselves called 'forest music.' With a huge array of acoustic instruments including exotic editions from far-flung places like Tibet they create a sound like no other I have heard. The songs range from hypnotic drone tracks with Tibetan chants to more upbeat progressive folk rock grooves with slight traces of jazz creeping in from time to time. They even manage to convert a Jimi Hendrix song to fit their primeval musical vision.

Despite the surprisingly diverse range of sounds that they eke out on their mostly acoustic sets, the psychedelic feel of the album is a unified timeless Earth-based spiritual one that celebrates the eternal energies of the forests and the creatures that depend on them. Despite the attempts of many a band to create such music, few succeed in the overwhelming plea of the forest music to be heard and makes you succumb to its spell simply by the sheer innovation and strangeness that evokes the excitement of a highly creative gathering fuelled by the ecstatic frenzy of Earth energies synergizing into a sonic orgy.