Lilin Dewa by Loren Nerell

These recordings are a documentation of a musical journey, which started some fifteen years ago with a 'chance' introduction to the gamelan music of Bali - a percussive ensemble made up of 4 to 40 musicians. An encounter occurring not through the usual means that one becomes acquainted with music today, via commercial recordings, but through the actual physical interaction with the ensembles. Few forms of music have so deeply affected me in such a way as gamelan music has.

This musical encounter has in may ways become the driving force behind my compositions, and while occasionally showing its influence in my past works, several years passed before I was able to realize my need for a deeper understanding, to study and to travel. Most of the 1990's has been spent taking up this task. I have visited these islands many times, spending several months living amongst the musicians, listening, observing and learning.

In the end, this journey has taken me from the fields, temples and Royal courts of Bali and Java, to m recording studio in Los Angeles where I have processed these sonic 'artifact.' Incorporating them into the music of Lilin Dewa. For me, this not the end of a journey, but a beginning. `



Nerells' chops as both a synthesizer expert and a student of the gamelan allow him to explore the border region between electronics and one of the world's most highly developed acoustic orchestras -- not that this hasn't been done before. But Nerell takes the gamelan into ambient realms, where-as many of the other fusions of Western musics with gamelan have turned on gamelan's rhythmic elements, Nerell uses gamelan in combination with synths, but also electronically morphs the gamelans into subtle, delicate resonant spaces, where just traces of the originals loop through the composition. At times reminiscent of Jon Hassell and the darker soundscapes of Steve Roach, Nerell's music shows a delicate touch of great beauty, and his understanding and love of gamelan never leave you feeling even the hint of appropriation. John Baxter Option May-June 1997

Lilin Dewa should strike a resonant chord with Westerners receptive to contemplative musics, even if they don't have a clue about gamelan. The moan-and-groan drone of Galungan has ritualistic overtones that induce an uneasy, peaceful feeling, like being isloated in a desert, Borobudur 4AM is akin to Paul Schutze's cinematic take on Souteastern Asian ambience. Muted chanting and cricketsong add to the song's mesmerizing chill. Bamboo, Iron, Resin, Bronze is one of the most gorgeous and euphoric peices of music since Don Cherry's "brown Rice" (1975), conjuring the image of a stately glide down an Indoesian river. Dave Segal Alternative Press May 1997

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