Akara – The World Beyond (Album Review)

The word “Akara” comes from the Indonesian words “akar”, meaning root or vine, and “acara”, meaning ritual or performance. Akara is a mystical, ritual music, the songs of luminous extra-dimensional beings with melodies and words at once new and familiar, a strange and beautiful dream, a dance-floor journey into another world.

Akara is the unique and outstanding musical project of Joshua Penman, a classically trained composer who took his skills and experiences to form the Akara ensemble, a group of classical musicians who score the Akara tracks, along with vocalist Ffemke Weidema and of course Penman, who plays keyboard, on top of composing and producing the music. His second album, “The World Beyond”, is a spiritual journey through space and time, promising to cause deep reflection and a surging of emotions.

Akara’s music is electronic, but the use of an orchestra gives it an organic feeling rich with vibrance. The ability of Akara to fuse sounds and ideas from different cultures and time periods is flawless, culminating in music that is- for lack of a better term – downright beautiful. “The World Beyond” is scored for a chamber orchestra, consisting of two violins, viola, cello, flute, french horn, harp, Indian mandolin, and harpsichord. Combine this with clean, crisp production and the mystical vocals of Ffemke Weidema, and you have something unlike anything else currently in electronic dance music.

 

The Kickstarter video for Akara’s second album “The World Beyond”Upon opening this album, the name alone draws your attention. “The World Beyond”. “Unlocking the Portal” opens you to this vast place of angelic sonic ore, building slowly but powerfully with scarce sounds and vocals. The second track, “The Crystal Palace”, instantly immerses you in the world of Akara with playful strings and wind instruments as the lead over deeper cello. A faint-but-steady drum beat gives the feeling of entering a place anew, taking your time to soak it all in but too overwhelmed to dally. The electronic production element of this album then becomes very clear on the next track, “Adoration of the Light” which instantly begins with distorted drums and synths. A darker track, Weidema’s vocals give this song an almost tribal atmosphere to it.

“Resonance” opens with subtle harp notes over horns, having a “dark” feeling as well but more-so of a dark that has past- it would be a perfect soundtrack for after some sort disaster has happened. Perhaps this is the feel Akara is going for with the transition. A dance-able drum beat then enters, followed by deep synth behind entrancing mandolin strings. The middle of the album is aptly named “Evensong”, which happens to be my favorite. It’s purely strings and Weidema’s celestial voice, with just the perfect amount of production to turn this song into an uplifting, melodic epic that begs contemplation. It transitions perfectly into “Sky Dancer”, a dance-able track, layered with beautiful strings, vocals, deep synth and a faint but solid drum beat accentuated with clapping. “Remembering the Stars Into Being” begins with a beautiful use of the harpsichord, creating a short but bridging gap between the bulk of the album and the last tracks.

The harpsichord leads into “The Royal Antechamber”, essentially the peak of the album for me. Angelic vocals accompany the perfect amount of synth, background strings and wind, with drums almost absent. This track builds a lot of emotion with its sound, easily creating a vision in your head as you can imagine tension rising and falling in a room as important as “The Royal Antechamber”. The music builds, falls towards the middle, then picks back up, ending with a smooth medium that gently floats along. The album ends with “The Enchanted Island”, another darker track. This may be the most “danceable” song on the album, containing an electronic drum beat and plentiful synth work. Haunting strings and faint vocals make this track an interesting pick for the end of the album; however, I imagine it is as the feelings one would experience when leaving this “world beyond”…

Akara is beautiful, thought-provoking music which will give you a much different perspective on electronic dance music. The album will be released August 5th via Merkaba Music. You can buy it here when it drops. Until then, enjoy this promo mix Akara has put together in anticipation of the new release.

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