Search - Melbourne :: Indian Ocean

Progressive World Perfection

04/06/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is a mix of all sorts of styles, but Progressive, World, Trip-hop and Western Rock are the most significant. Think Peter Gabriel meets Tricky meets 80's King Crimson meets The Blue Nile!The standard of playing and singing is absolutely superb, but the excellent musicianship does not make it inaccessable. Many of the tracks are actually very catchy.Indian Ocean is one of the few albums I've heard in the last decade which really does do something new and interesting. I've always loved eclectic, exciting music and this provides it in spades. If you have similar tastes then you're missing out if you don't listen to this."

Good mix of trip-hop and downtempo rock

08/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Carrie Melbourne is a British based chapman stick player performing with such artists as Babylon Zoo and Mike Oldfield band. Seeing that she was one of the few female artists out there who uses the chapman stick extensively I was intrigued to pick up this CD. On Indian Ocean, Carrie proves she not only can play some mean chops in addition to demonstrating her ability as a vocalist as well. The songs on Indian Ocean are firmly rooted in the dark triphop of Massive Attack and Portishead. That shouldn't come as surprise either since she played bass in Tricky's live band in 1997 and 1998. Carrie is concerned with creating a melodic atmosphere that gives songs more space to breathe. At times, I feel the trip-hop/electronica influence completely overpowers the more subtler aspects on the album. One idea that I'd like to see her explore more is the eastern Tibetan sound with vocal chanting, something that she only briefly touches upon here. This would move more towards the new-age/ambient direction and away from trip-hop. Given her background performing live with Mike Oldfield on Tubular Bells III it would make a good starting point for a future album."

I wanted to like this CD

07/14/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Sometimes when you get a CD it takes a few listens to enjoy it. I gave this CD more chances than most out of respect of a player of the Chapman Stick. But it never reached the marks that the other reviewers gave it."