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VIDNA OBMANA - Crossing the Trail

Format: CD Label & Cat.Number: Zoharum ZOHAR 312-2 Release Year: 2023 Note: re-issue of album from 1998 (Projekt), feat. STEVE ROACH, JEFF PEARCE and MARTINA VERHOEVEN => slow + majestic "world ambience" with lots of percussion and ethnic instruments used.. - 350 copies, 6 panel digipak Price (incl. 19% VAT): €13.00 More Info This edition of "Crossing The Trail" is next installment of the informal series contains VIDNA OBMANA reissues. This time it is material that was originally published in 1998 by the American label Projekt. The album was recorded between 1996 and 1997, with guest appearances inc. Steve Roach, Jeff Pearce and Martina Verhoeven. The album contains seven compositions, characteristic of VIDNA OBMANA work from this period, also being a perfect link between "The River Of Appearance" and "The Surreal Sanctuary", which we also reissued as part of this series. Especially for this release, the material was remastered by Dirk Serries in 2023. Edition was enriched with slightly refreshed graphics, traditionally based on Martina Verhoeven's photographs from the same period as the publication from Projekt. CD folded in a 6-panel digipack. CROSSING THE TRAIL was recorded and mixed between June 1996 and October 1997. All tracks composed, arranged & played by Vidna Obmana, except ‘Trail Dwelling’ by Vidna Obmana & Steve Roach and ‘This Splendid Place’ by Vidna Obmana & Jeff Pearce. Vidna Obmana : electronics, loops, rhythm programming and processing, various percussion, bamboo and wooden flutes, ocarinas, fujaras, recycling and acoustic mutations. Steve Roach : electron groove creation and harmonic wave on ‘Trial Dwelling’. Source recorded at the Timeroom, Tucson, AZ, June 1997. Jeff Pearce : guitar and electronic loops on ‘This Splendid Place’. Source recorded at Outer Circle Studio, Linden, IN, March 1996. Martina Verhoeven : chant on ‘The Esoteric Source’. Remastered for this edition by Dirk Serries, August 2023. Originally released on cd in 1998 (Projekt Records, USA). Photography by Martina Verhoeven / www.martinaverhoeven.com Design by Maciej Mehring https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/crossing-the-trail "Fellow countryman Dirk Serries has been on my radar for some time now, though mostly with his 'Fear Falls Burning' project. I guess I was somehow late in discovering Vidna Obmana, even though I was there to experience the tail end of the project. While I can honestly say I find his improvised music a bold move, it never managed to grab me properly. I liked his guitar ambient slinging a lot, and from that point, I started to work backwards through his discography. Whenever I heard something new from Fear Falls Burning, I also wanted to hear an older Vidna Obmana - also just because one can. I don't think I've come across 'Crossing The Trail' on that particular journey, but I don't keep lists since I am not an organised man. This CD was originally released in 1998 by Projekt, the label from the man behind Black Tape For A Blue Girl. Vidna Obmana is assisted by ambient masters Jeff Pearce and Steve Roach, and then Martine Verhoeven contributes vocals. Each of the seven pieces takes considerable time to develop - close to eight is the shortest and over fourteen minutes the longest. Glancing back at other Vidna Obmana works from this period, I can say the musical style is instantly recognisable. Somewhere along the way, Vidna Obmana picked up using rhythms, and he uses them to great effect: slow, majestic, and a bit exotic. There are rainmakers and shakers, a Djembe (at least that's what it sounds like to me), and all along, there are these big washes of spacious synthesiser sounds. By sequencing these, the music gets a slightly more 'mechanical' feeling, in which everything feels quite streamlined. At the same time, the whole thing comes across as very organic, and it's easily a space to get lost in (which I would think is Vidna Obmana's goal exactly). With the enormous output of such a project, it is never easy to say if one specific work is the ultimate masterpiece between lesser ones. Moreover, that would very much be a personal thing. In the end, I think I heard only a tiny portion of the work, but can I sincerely say 'Crossing The Trail' is one I enjoyed? But then again, I did so with many of the other albums." [LW / Vital Weekly]