David Shea - The Thousand Buddha Caves [Room40 Promo]

Put on the circuit via Australia's ever active Room40-imprint on March 12th, 2k1 is "The Thousand Buddha Caves" which is the latest musical outing by David Shea who's been on the album circuit for almost 30 years now with his longplay debut being released in 1992. Driven by a basically life long interest in ancient trading routes between the East - a.k.a. Asia - and the rest of the world and intercultural exchange associated with trade and with guest contributions by the likes of Ictus Ensemble, Oren Ambarchi and others David Shea rolls out a ten tracks and 63 minutes spanning body of work rich in atmosphere and contemplative in nature, reflecting and recreating the sounds and a state of deep meditation whilst sonically recreating the environment of Asian temples and sanctuaries in a partially dark and brooding manner as showcased in "Ritual In The Sand" whereas a tune like "Falling Rice On The Guzheng" fuses intense drum eruptions with hypnotic background chants and a bustling overall vibe whilst pieces like "Mara's Daughters Seduce Buddha" or "Meditation" explore the general realm of so-called Minimal Music just to name a few. World Music (Not World Music) might be a term to describe this one in a well simplifying catch phrase.