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Here is an excellent 'new' take on electric guitar ambient music. Comparing the music on this recording to anything else out there is more or less pointless. Sylken is an original and creative group. "Fearless", which opens the album, displays their uniqueness nicely, with its opening looped melancholic echoed guitars and soaring lead lines played over a bed of synths. Later, the track brings pulsing midtempo synth rhythms into play, along with more dramatic keyboards. The lead guitar lines sting and cry amidst this undercurrent - well engineered, I might add, with every instrument expertly-placed in the mix.

For me, the highlight of this excellent album is the third track, "Spiral". Opening with spacy synths, the cut veers straight into space-jazz territory with the blending in of brilliant subdued muted trumpet. Shimmering synths counterpoint the bluesy trumpet as Sylken takes the music in a warmer and more earthbound direction . However you add it up, it's brilliant. I can't get enough of this song. I love the juxtaposition of jazz/blues trumpet amidst all the spacier textures.

There is a serene short piano/synth piece "Island", which serves as a nice 'break' from the overall mood that permeates the CD. The music is much more textural than melodic, but it's a helluva lot more enjoyable, for me at least, than the current drone recordings which everyone else seems to orgasm over these days. Make no mistake about it - this is music. In fact, at times, it's downright beautiful (the song "Illusions" has moments, when the pealing guitar notes bounce off of sparkling synth notes, that are positively enchanting). "Sleepless" closes the album with one of the more intriguing selections - gentle rhythms accompany looped guitars, a lonely lead guitar line, and mysterioso electronic effects buried deep in the mix.

The music of Sylken is well-crafted, deeply evocative and thoroughly engaging. Amazing is all I can say. This album is ideally suited for late-night listening when you need something with more 'meat' but still firmly rooted in ambient sensibility.

Bill Binkelman - Wind and Wire