Kar’nam is like a human digeridoo – an “om” machine with controls set for the heart of the all-seeing “I,” the center of the mind, the core of the inner being. Building vast, drifting drones with whatever’s around, Kar’nam lets eyes close while kaleidoscopic psychedelics play on the back of the lids. I’m not gonna say for certain that it’s all looped voice, but it sounds an awful lot like strictly looped voice. The haunting mesmerism of “Autodidactic” trips through your wires like spiritual electricity, a charge from a higher plane of existence that can only be reached through ritual cleansing of the mind and spirit.
Not unlike Jordan Reyes’s Revenant project, Kar’nam’s formula begins with the loop-based building blocks on which are built structures of intense sound, but “Autodidactic” allows for a more careful and gentle exploration of the psyche. It’s heady, though, bubbling and fizzing till you feel weightless, buoyed by the sound to an unknown destination, but one whose shores are welcoming for all seekers of inner peace. “Divide Yourself,” especially, with its Eastern scales, really takes on a mystical identity, rippling out through space and time into the great infinite beyond. But only for its fifteen or so minutes. (What? That’s how long it lasts!)
--Ryan
Posts
