Subterranean Collective

Album review

Serries' productivity as Vidna Obmana has been so constant and wide-ranging that many of his earlier works have almost been lost along the way. Subterranean Collective addresses this need by means of a creative re-release of three discs that originally appeared in the early '90s but were long out of print: Echoing Delight, The Spiritual Bonding, and Parallel Flaming. Rather than simply remastering and repackaging the original albums, however, Serries instead chose to weave tracks from all three together into a new form over two discs' room, including an attractive unreleased rarity, "Lifting Charm," along the way. As such, Subterranean won't satisfy the complete, hardcore fan who must have everything as it first appeared: the running order is completely rearranged, a number of tracks from the originals are missing, and Serries himself worked on new arrangements and sonic elements for many of the songs. That said, nearly everyone else will find much to enjoy among these discs. Subterranean is truly a collection of deep, haunting pleasures, touching on everything from rhythmless, pure ambient sound to intertwined work that combines that with a variety of instruments worldwide (shells, rainsticks, and didgeridoo are only some of his materials used). His range of collaborators on the original releases is practically a who's who list of artists with similar talent and scope, including Djen Ajakan Shean, Robert Rich, and Steve Roach. Indeed, Roach's first recordings with Serries form part of the collection, including the wonderful "Challenging Boundaries," with a mesmerizing flute (or its equivalent) keening across the low echoes and soft electronic bed of the song. Overall, Subterranean is both an informative look back and a refreshing new experience, as good a place to start for those unfamiliar with Serries' work as it is a necessary release for those already captivated by him.
© Ned Raggett /TiVo