artist: Anyma country of origin: Canada style(s): World music, ethno-ambient, gothic, ambient trance essential releases: Anyma volume 1 (2004, Anymaworld.com)

Remember when Delerium made great albums? Remember when Dead Can Dance actually released any new albums at all? Without being low grade copycats Canadian act Anyma (French-Canadians Ghislain Caya and Chrystian Bourassa) have tapped into that same exotic, epic, neo-medieval vein with very impressive results on their debut album Anyma volume 1. Over lush backdrops and slowly throbbing rhythms they craft an eerie twilight world of leisurely piano motifs, sensual wordless vocals and the exquisitely layered, repetitive arpeggios of ambient trance.

At just over 40 minutes in length this CD is very much a case of quality over quantity. The best is saved for last: the instrumental "Exordyum" is a spellbinding example of minimalist repetition and slow build, informed with that curiously Eastern sense of time where the music seems to grow out of the earth rather than simply start at one point and finish at another.

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