From the Dark Earth

Meg Bowles' 1999 follow-up to her Blue Cosmos, From the Dark Earth is not only a wonderful recording, it's a profoundly critical recording as well. From the Dark Earth consists of the Berlin school influences, á la Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, like Blue Cosmos, but this recording features the work of the Philadelphia Orchestra's principle trumpet player, David Bilger, making this recording very different from a lot of the other ambient/space works out there. This recording is almost a combination of one part Steve Roach and one part Miles Davis, á la In a Silent Way. With Bowles' dark synthesizer vamps and David Bilger's jazzy and darkly modal melodic work snaking throughout the fabric of this sonic tapestry, the work expands and contracts bringing the listener in and then letting the listener step back. Clocking in at just under 70 minutes, From the Dark Earth only gets better, right from the first track, "Shapeshifter," through the last track that surrenders the recording, "Neptune's Slumber." Of Bowles' two available recordings, From the Dark Earth is clearly the best, sonically, compositionally, and otherwise. Bowles and Bilger's compositional interplay is fantastic and refreshing, making this a truly rewarding and unique listening experience.