Only rarely does an album like My Little Forest comes seemingly from out of nowhere and totally changes your concept of what is possible musically. Itai Argaman delights our ears and pushes the boundaries with his psy-ambient-dub-classical hybrid sound.
Albert Hoffman and Timothy Leary give the opening blessing in LSDing Camping, which bleeds nicely into a proper sacred dub. You can tell right away that Argaman has a firm grip on the art of music making if you open your ears to the harmonies, melodies, beautifully constructed sounds, and intelligent use of effects that define this track. At this point in the album Argaman breaks out some real musical chops for our entertainment on this psychedelic journey. Violins and timpani drums lead us into another dub (You will See, T2). This one is laced with cartoonish vocals and a lightheartedly dark symphonic atmosphere which carries on perfectly into one of the real stunners on this release, InHarmonic Symphony (T3). This is the kind of track that, to a lover of psychedelic chill, really takes imagination and musical amalgamation to a whole new level. The composition is sheer brilliance in my opinion, and to realize the composer plays all the orchestral parts himself is also quite impressive. The Tim Burton-like violin melodies continue in WeirDub a bit until we break back down into a fun, slow dub with a trippy little auto tuned vocal melody that fades down to the somber and mournful interlude. The Old Times (T6) is another fine showing of Argaman’s talents both on the instruments and on the computer. I have heard a number of classical composers using some electronic sounds in their pieces, but never have I heard a more fluid blend of classical, dub, and everything in between. I feel that some of the lyrics in It's Not for Money (T7) explain why this album sounds so amazing: “It's not for money, it's not for joy, it's all about the music in my soul.” This album was not developed so that it could be performed at symphony halls; the focus was clearly on using the greatest tool of the 21st century (our beloved computers) to make the music sound as good as possible. The man is not lying, he didn’t do this for the fun of playing at festivals, or the money in selling scores to filmmakers and symphonies (though I really hope he does); he did this for the music, which is something much larger than himself.
The Silence (T10) is another fantastic piece, concluding this opus in a proper classical way. Bringing back familiar melodies and themes but reprised. It’s the kind of ending that makes you want to clap and discuss it with someone. |
