Aglaia - Water Inside the Light

Artist: Vidna Obmana
P: 2001
This double CD contains three recordings from the mid 1990s, Echoing Delight, Parallel Flaming, and The Spiritual Bonding. They find Serries in a transition period between abstract space music and techno-tribal trance works. A disciple of Steve Roach, Obmana's career generally tracks the evolution of the American synthesist. Adding to the parallels, Roach also appears on the collection, along with Robert Rich and Alio Die. Vidna Obmana is Serbo-Croatian for "optical illusion"; in his music, Serries conjures the audio equivalent of all manner of sensory distortions/legerdemain. Synthesizers create infinite glissandos wrapped around rhythms that range from tribal rituals to ominous zombie dances. Serries has a slightly more melodic sensibility than Roach, albeit melodies that are stretched out over time. Sometimes serene, often disturbing and threatening, the title Subterranean Collective, might be aptly extended to Subterranean Collective Consciousness as Obmana explores a psychological zone beneath the surface.
 

Artist: Steve Roach + Vidna Obmana 
P: 1995
When the habits of logic evaporate in the trances of an unbridled sun, you begin to recognize the things your eyes prefer to hide. From American composer Roach and Belgian prodigy Obmana comes this new collaboration, articulating its own secret world, a dimension beyond the limits of classification such as "atmospheric" and "tribal-ambient" often employed to describe these artists. Well of Souls is a double CD set with each disc exploring the nuances of two very different yet interconnected perspectives -- a world that simmers with meaning during the day and whispers a whole set of other insights at night. Taken together, these pieces bring to life a multi-faceted, continuously evolving portrait of those things which the eyes like to hide but the heart longs to embrace.