Mantra Sessions

From the first track, as a free-blowing tenor sax solo jostles with a Hindu peace incantation over an ngoni (African lute) groove, you know you are in unusual territory. The album is the work of two Swedes with eclectic credentials and a secret weapon: each track is based around a Hindu hymn emanating from an Indian mantra jukebox.

The breadth of genres that drummer Bosse Skoglund and guitarist Johan ‘Zilverzurf’ Zachrisson employ on their jams is enough to make any Brahmin bust a move. The oom-pah feel of ‘Prosperity in Day to Day Life’ is followed by the jazzy ‘Morning Greetings’, while each track gets a dub remix on the album's second CD. Skoglund uses a menagerie of percussion to explore the natural rhythms of the mantras. He builds grooves that flow with and against the grain of the chants, most strikingly on ‘Wisdom & Knowledge’, which ambles along in 13-time.

The deliberate lack of harmonic development might frustrate some, but enlightened listeners won’t regret checking out Skoglund and Zilverzurf's unconventional invocations.