ELECTRIC SILENCE

DZYAN managed to remain the very same trio as on its second album "Time Machine" but opted to expand the instrumentation manyfold by adding a double bass, a mellotron and several new ethnic instruments including a sitar, saz and tambura in addition to the baglama. In addition they also crafted a super string synth which added a noise that simulated a loaded spring being set off. This third and final album from DZYAN titled ELECTRIC SILENCE is considered their best by many most likely due to its wild and uninhibited journey into a bizarre concoction of what many have called ethno-Krautrock however ELECTRIC SILENCE pretty much jettisoned the electric guitar sounds of the previous albums and relies exclusively on acoustic guitars and ethnic strings such as the sitar.

While "Time Machine" was clearly influenced by the jazz-fusion world of the Mahavishnu Orchestra only set to the psychedelic world of Krautrock, ELECTRIC SILENCE on the other hand was much more in the school of Popol Vuh and free form avant-jazz from various sources like Sun Ra and mind expanding avant-raga rock in the vein of the English band Magic Carpet. The six tracks on ELECTRIC SILENCE dive deep into the world of free form improvisation with often little to grasp onto, nary a melodic hook, avant-groove or compositional scaffolding. The result is a somewhat aimless parade into the formless void where only tones and timbres exhibit various colors to keep the world of mondo-bizarro somewhat in the familiarity zone. There are moments of recognizable Krautish jams, partially on the closing title track.

True that sitars do sound like something one would hear in a typical raga setting but tidbits of musical scales are fleeting and revolve around cyclical loops much in the way modern post-rock has formed. Gone are Peter Giger's virtuosic drum performances and instead are replaced by sensual percussive accents that complement the ambience and cosmic vibes that the music on ELECTRIC SILENCE attempts to simulate. The whole affair comes off as some kind of mind-altering substance journey to an ashram high in some undisclosed location in the Himalayas. It's the kind of music that aimlessly wanders through your head when an idea is birthed from behind the great veil, an idea devoid of any form or function, just a procession of sounds that somehow string along together in a somewhat cohesive manner.

There is no denying that ELECTRIC SILENCE is a bizarre and utterly unique album even in the bizarre world of early 1970s Krautrock however the rock aspects of the term are completely absent this time around and the album is more like the ultimate soundtrack to a high altitude drug experience than anything remotely jazz or rock this time around. This is a sonic free-for-all that is kept in check only by the greater motivation of keeping things airy and in the clouds and possibly what one would hear at a monastery in an alternative universe at whatever their version of Tibet may be. There are definitely some worthy experiments on this one however ELECTRIC SILENCE is truly the most difficult of DZYAN's three albums to appreciate.

This was my first experience with this band and i guess i wasn't quite ready to comprehend the madness at play here because it can come off as the musical form of nothing but gobbledygook with its pointillistic approach of punctuating a submerged structure. Due to the fact that i never cared for this one i pretty much wrote DZYAN off but after many years i have finally given this band another chance and all of a sudden i find that this is indeed some brilliant stuff after all. For those who find this too weird, be advised that you must be well steeped in avant-garde jazz and the freakiest of improvisational psychedelia and raga. The album may well take many years to sink but if you let yourself sink into its idiosyncrasies without judgment, miracles occur! Somehow despite all odds i have come around on this one. It's just so wonderfully weird that i can't contain myself! Ha.