Search - Harmonix Ensemble :: Kava Kava

Part of a three-disc collection of instrumental music that purports to mimic the effects of various herbs, Kava Kava (the recording) aims to alter your mood in a way that kava kava (an herb from the South Pacific) is said to "promote a sense of calm and well-being." The music, composed by pianist Joseph Nagler (designer of the ensemble-based works heard on the collection's companion discs, Ginseng and Gingko Biloba), is acceptably innocuous as a background audio distraction, but is not the grand merger of science and art the disc's packaging would have you believe. "Rain Forest Meditation" opens the disc with a sad, somewhat annoying violin drone that eventually yields to Nagler's gentler keyboards amid randomly falling raindrops. He shares space with a softly flowing flute passage on "Earth Meditation," then interacts with acoustic guitar and surf sounds, respectively, on the final two tracks. Quiet and uncomplicated, this 58-minute disc (and the collection in general) offers an inoffensive, restful assortment of sounds that, to meditation music's most earnest fans, may divert your attention but will likely not change your life. --Terry Wood