Much of the music being made today can be easily categorized
\ninto jazz, blues, rock, hip-hop, or some other section for the
\nmusic store. Amun Ra cannot be so easily classified. Their music
\nmust be evaluated solely on its own terms.<\/p>\n
After listening to the album, I will add my voice to any rave
\nreviews already written. So many musicians have such great
\ninstrumental music, but never allow you the time to just sit and
\nlisten to the instruments; instead, they clutter the eardrums with
\nvocals that don’t add much. Not so Amun Ra; of the lengthy song
\n“Spiritual Expedition,” half of the song has no vocals to speak of.
\nEmily Shirley, the lead vocalist, contributes laughter to the
\nrhythm section during this time, then sings lyrics towards the
\nend.<\/p>\n
The lyrics themselves are stunning. Read aloud, the lyrics make
\ngreat poetry; with phrases like “what do we know for certain \/ that
\nwon’t ever come undone? \/ this land is ours to mold \/ will we dare
\nto bare our souls?” from “Time,” Amun Ra shows that this is not
\nyour standard love, sex and drugs album.<\/p>\n
Well, you may ask, what does Amun Ra sound like? Herein lays the
\nbiggest problem. I cannot compare Amun Ra to anything similar.
\nThere are definite shadows of foreign influences in the rhythms and
\nin the exotic woodwinds. The music, without vocals, might be
\nanything from excellent jazz to funk to hip-hop. The rhythms are
\ncomplex, often changing midsong as vocals are introduced or
\nremoved; I wouldn’t try to dance to any one song, unless I was in
\nthe mood to change how I was dancing every three or four
\nminutes.<\/p>\n
The individual members of the band mesh to make this wonderfully
\noriginal sound. The regular band includes Nadjim Kebir on drums,
\nMisha Rutman on guitars, Neil Larson on Rhodes and synthesizers,
\nand Azukizawa Hirotsugu on bass. There’s some excellent saxophone
\nplaying by guest Arthur Sharp during “Step Back,” and Mister Rourke
\non turntables joins Amun Ra for four of the songs of the album.
\nEmily Shirley has a wonderfully clear voice, and can put the full
\ngamut of emotions into her lyrics.<\/p>\n
The vocals of Amun Ra are mournful, angry, hopeful, and humorous
\nby turn. The music behind the vocals is energetic, soothing, and
\nsoaring. Although it sounds jumbled when I describe it, I guarantee
\nyou the music does not sound scrambled in the least. I hope that
\nanyone interested in a “new sound” will definitely give Amun Ra a
\ntry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":26682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7012],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37937","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-amun-ra","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37937"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}