Review Summary: I almost bought into it
In most cases, I’d never start off a review with a personal anecdote. My better judgment tells me that not only would the audience not give a f**k about what I have to share, but that I’m also directing the attention away from the artist's work and redirecting it towards my significantly less important life. But here I’m going to make an exception, if only because the way this album was introduced to me fits rather snugly with what I have to say about its experience. So sit back and enjoy a quick recollection of my past, or else feel free to skip the next paragraph entirely.
Over the summer I picked up a short term job at the convenience store in my small town. Enter a late night like any other behind the register, seemingly hours since a customer had made an appearance. As I drummed an all too familiar rhythm on the countertop and pondered when the rain would let up so I could next step out for a smoke, in walks a guy as fitting of the title “hippie” as I’ve ever seen. Along with excessively long hair and Eastern jewelry wherever it’s possible to wear it, he sported a t-shirt with the familiar art style of Alex Grey. I asked him where he had gotten it, and the next few minutes were spent of him explaining one of the spiritual highlights of his life; casually sharing his participation in a massive rave-like orgy that was honoring, and assisted by, Alex Grey’s artwork. He left me with a few words of wisdom: “Check out the music of Akara, it is something of pure experience and transcends the line between music and ritual. Namaste…” before walking out into the night with his purchase of coconut milk extract and $5 on pump 12.
Having spent the last half of my shift alone in a dead store with absolutely nothing to do but watch the clock, this pretentious and ridiculous hippie bantering was some of the most profound *** I had ever heard. And upon loading up
The World Beyond for the first time, I almost bought into it all. What sounds like repetitive strikes of a gong begin the album with an almost religious summoning, eventually introducing Femke Weidema’s ethereal vocals and the gorgeous strings of a full orchestra. The music itself is pretty unique, blurring the lines of ambient psych, dance and classical compositions. It is represented by its fan-base as a modern day symphony (like we’ve never heard
that one before), but for once that title is actually somewhat justifiable. The rhythm section plods forward using electronic beats found in your typical EDM, while psychedelic synths and layered strings take lead behind the vocals. Most interesting is the lack of an actual language. The angelic calling of Weidema’s voice sounds like the reciting of ancient scriptures, conveying meaning through emotion and sound rather than relying on lyrics to establish a connection with an audience. What compliments this nicely is the already diverse themes of eastern meditation blended with the westernized electronica sound. The most human part of the album, the singing, lacks a place of origin to ground the album to, preventing any familiarity.
The vast majority of the album fluidly glides as an ambient and subdued piece. However a true symphony deals with dynamic tension and release, and the track
“Adoration of Light” helps play this role all too well. It’s a definite centerpiece on
The World Beyond, stretching over a great portion of the first half of the album. It draws attention to an almost dubstep like beat, setting tone for a much darker atmosphere. Pockets of softer moments occasionally slip through like rays of light, only to again return to the more dramatic computerized tribal beat. There were a staggering number of different instruments credited on the production, to the point where I couldn't identify where half of them make their appearance.
“Remembering the Stars into Being” even manages to forsake the vocals that help carry the album in favor of an entire section of keys. The diversity of it all is very impressive, while maintaining a cohesive sound all together.
This is a formula that can be a lot to swallow, and possibly even harder to really make sense of when taken out of context. In retrospect, the record could never have lived up to the expectations I naively bought into by my false prophet. Yet this is precisely why I have chosen to pass on to you the introduction I was given before venturing into Akara’s world. What makes the record truly stand out is its ambitions and surrounding enigma (two things that are somewhat independent of the music itself).
The World Beyond takes itself on another level of performance by becoming something of a ritual, a word Akara uses frequently to describe their vision. Even outside their festival gatherings of professional dancers and assumingly drugged out crowds of people swaying to the rhythm, you can feel what energies the album tries to evoke. The dedication of its fans and the hype they try to maintain when finding a new convert is an experience in itself. Yet there will be a part in all of us that will want to laugh at the New Age hippie mumbo-jumbo side of Akara that takes itself way too seriously. It is hard to tell if the shamanic power is somewhat of a placebo, the surrounding hype becoming something akin to legend. But if you perceive the hype as part of the music, as opposed to trying to make the music live up to its own hype, the experience is much more satisfying. The album is almost like a flower in need of a vase: on its own stunning and gorgeously alive, but requires a decedent and artificial protection to keep it standing so tall.
