Trance Mission | en

There's a new generation of musicians weaned on Byrne & Eno, Hassell, and, in fact, the nascent sounds of the hybrid music propelled out of punk and new wave's imploding dynasty back in the early '80s. These musicians have also discovered the broad palette of world music, chosen such tools as didgeridoos and ancient percussives over guitars, and adamantly embraced the possibilities of electronics instead of snobbishly rejecting them.

Stephen Kent, Kenneth Newby, John Loose (who also operate as Lights in a Fat City), and Beth Custer support this attitude through the auspices of Trance Mission, with a music that future authors might call postmodernist folk. MEANWHILE..., the band's second album, features a music that is as exotic, sublime, and intoxicating as it is progressive and original. Trance Mission establishes a benchmark linking the past with the modern, high-definition pulse of rock and jungle. At times vigorous and aloof ("Zozobra," "Go Play Outside!") then wispily melancholic ("Bindi"), Trance Mission's sinuous and wonderfully played compositions, reflect a consistent new dynamic that smears the borderline between cultures.

Recorded at Mobius Music, San Francisco, California.

Engineers: Simon Tassano, Christian Jones.

Trance Mission: Beth Custer (vocals, alto & bass clarinets, clarinet, trumpet, click sticks, samples); Kenneth Newby (vocals, winds, cymbals, frame drums, clay pot, suling jawa, p'iri, suling Bali, ceng-ceng, programming, samples); Stephen Kent (cello, didgeridoo, tuba, asheko, Chinese cymbals, shaker, cowbell); John Loose (drums, tabla, bodhran, dumbek, kalimba, frame drums, shaker, pandiero, percussion, samples).

Additional personnel: Eda Maxym (vocals); Robert Anthony (spoken vocals); Peter Whitehead (rebab).
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