"This is a lush, nuanced, and very satisfying recording. I am not a particularly big fan of the genre, but this album is good art, period.
I heard the song "Bhakti" on NPR and immediately dropped in a cassette. The next day I ordered the disc and it has been in and out of heavy rotation for four years. When I heard that first cut I thought to myself "this is what dying sounds like"...then, six months later I heard the artist interviewed and he said he composed the song while a relative was dying and he was struggling to understand what the relative was experiencing. He was absolutely successful in communicating that idea to me.
If "Bhakti" is the centerpiece of the album, the rest works wonderfully around it. I absolutely agree with the first reviewer that the album is worth twice the price."
A wonderful musical journey
Steve Fredericks | Fla | 04/09/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you enjoy ambient music - that electronic, new age, instrumentals-only kind of music - then this one is definitely a great start. Ishq takes you through soundscapes that are connected yet unique in their own right. This is one of those albums you begin on track 1 and just play through in order since one song blends into the next. It's worth twice the price.
CD cover can be viewed at http://www.ambient.us/shop/popup_image.php?pID=72"
Matt Hillier and his amazing techno-ambient soundscape
William E. Fason | Houston | 08/30/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ishq is the band comprising Matt Hillier and Jacqueline Kersley of St. Ives, Cornwall, in the UK. The word "ishq" means love, with the connotation of divine love, in Persian and Hindi. I first heard Ishq on the syndicated program Music From the Hearts of Space, and was hooked right away. It's as if Matt and Jacqueline traveled to another world, and have brought back textured layers of sound which cannot be easily described, although I suppose that labels such as "techno-ambient" or "psychedelic trance music" will have to do. It's polished without being slick, it's innovative and eclectic without being needlessly abstruse or the least bit pretentious. Each cut on the album is distinct, and yet each piece of music so easily glides into the next cut as to invite a complete listening. The album starts off with Skyblue, a mellow, down tempo, chill music number before gliding into calming and meditative Yu. Opal is positively hypnotic, and flows effortlessly into the beatless Cyandragonfly and then the ethereal and wonderful Bhakti, the highpoint of the album. I would have to agree with the professor's review describing Bhakti (the word means "pure spiritual devotion") as a musical depiction of dying. The piece has a mournful quality, conveying grief but also hope, serenity, and transcendence. Jacqueline's vocals are wonderful and inspiring.
While this album is not for everyone, I loved it and still enjoy listening to it. I give it five stars."
Unbelievable
Ryan T. Laframboise | usa | 07/29/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The texture is amazing. The song "yu" had me completely mesmerized and lost in the music I highly recommend especially at such a cheap price!"
Scintillatingly Simple
FrontPage | Baltimore, MD United States | 06/02/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"An absolutely gorgeous, lush, emotionally- composed album. The structure seems so much deeper than most other "ambient" and "new age" albums I've heard over the last couple decades. So often you hear electronic music that is so over-synthesized, or over-minimal (drone type music) but the sounds, voices and tones are meant for each other - an extraordinary marriage of sounds, sound effects and song. I simply think that each person will find something unique to gain from listening to this gem of an album. The first song, Skyblue, has percussion - but not too much that it overwhelms the track. But by about a third into the track, the whole song just morphs into a sound completely in a whole different atmosphere. It's amazing - I've never heard anything like it before. I write this as I listen to the track for the very first time. The percussion has stopped, and a dreamy synth has taken over, and here I am shedding a couple tears. But into the second half, the percussion begins again, yet the synth remains. Such a lush and fulfilling track, truly a great first song that will envelope the listener to want to hear the rest. Each of the other tracks will keep your attention. The reason I got the album was after listening to some of the songs on internet radio, SomaFM. I would note songs that perk my ears and mind, and Ishq's songs kept showing up. I'm thrilled that I have Orchid in my collection. By the time the track has finished, you find yourself on a seashore as waves kiss the beach. The tracks don't fade to silence, the music simply continues to the next one, so turn of the random settings to listen to it."