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THE REALITY TEMPLES The latest release from versatile musician Richard Bone is a melting pot of Western electronic music and Asian Indian sounds along with some psychedelic elements. It exemplifies an artist who isn't content to stay in the same musical mould for each of his releases. Indeed, it's very different sonically and stylistically from, for example, the mysterious ambience of The Spectral Ships or Etherdome. Of the few albums by Richard I've heard the closest comparison would be to Disorient. Nine instrumental songs all coming in well under seven minutes long, plus two MP3 bonus tracks which I've not heard, make up the album. Apart from the last piece "A Lovely Day for Ballooning" the mood is fairly laid back, indeed this is an album which comes across to me as being whimsical and I can imagine Richard had a lot of fun making it. "Between the World and a Wall" is the first track to have a strong Indian flavour due to the sitar like sounds that provide recurring refrains and the snaking melody. Helping to keep the piece moving along are drum beats, and later on some electronic percussion. On reaching the ambient track "Espiritus Jai" the pace slows right down, a languid electric piano plays a simple sparse melody against flutey and quiet elfin synth pads. The style of this track is reminiscent of Etherdome. Finishing off the main part of the album is the more lively piece "A Lovely Day for Ballooning". Airy synth washes create a sense of space and freedom as "wah wah" kind of sounds slowly pulse through, then about two minutes in sitar sounds add to the backdrop before a funky groove and beats start up. The piece carries on like this rhythmically with the beats, airy snatches of sound, and carefree melodies.
The Reality Temples is an unusual album. Richard pulls off the feat of not
only of mixing West and East but also adding some out of time qualities -
all that without it sounding like a contrived fusion
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