Myths of the Near Future, Pt. 2

With music dedicated to "the memory of the plants, animals, and indigenous peoples whose extinction is caused by man," Mo Boma mixes elements of ambient and world music combined with the same sort of new age-y classicism that drove much of Tangerine Dream's best work. But what sets the trio apart from more self-indulgent groups of the instrumental music genre is the incorporation of live instruments. Skuli Sverrisson's subtle, unobtrusive bass work recalls the bottom-end gurglings of Bill Laswell, while Carsten Tiedemann (who also contributes vocals, percussion, and African lute to the mix) plays guitar like a young Robert Fripp. But it's the synth work of Jamshied Sharifi that provokes Tangerine Dream comparisons, as his mature phrasing and textural layering sound like the product of a classical music background. The group uses source recordings from Central Africa as one element of its sound, but rather than the shallow gimmickry of groups like Deep Forest, such assimilations seem natural in the context of Mo Boma's exotic musical environments. A welcome addition to the ethno-ambient canon.