Sonolumina

There doesn’t seem to be much obvious or interesting use of stereo effects on recordings anymore. But on “Fire,” the opening tune on Sonolumina’s Solar Logos, the hand-drum sound travels back and forth from one speaker to the other so that it feels like you’re in the middle of a circle of bass pulses and percussion. Aphex Twin probably never would have teamed up with Dead Can Dance, but that unlikely pairing might have produced the hypnotic electro raga of “Buddha,” with its circular, abstract vocals. Distant instrumental voices drift in and out of focus across the album, giving it an impressionistic feel. The diversity of influences and blending of ideas gives each song a soothing quality of the familiar, but with a distinctly exotic character.