Review from 'Musician'
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MASK - "Heavy Petal"
Mask are Sonja Kristina in inspired collaboration with acclaimed ambient producer/composer Marvin Ayres. Sonja Kristina was the first british female singer to front a rock band. Her work with "Curved Air/Acid Folk" won her a huge, devoted following from the '70s to the present day. Always on the experimental fringe of popular music her work today with "Marvin Ayres" explores new sonic environments for her unique vocals and songs. Marvin Ayres is the brilliant new voice of ambient/electronica, highly regarded by reviewers of his recent releases "Neptune'', "Cellosphere" and "Sensory" (Burning Shed). His collaborative works with film artists have been screened internationally at prestigious galleries and festivals. Sonja Kristina and Marvin Ayres have found a perfect combination of musical elements, creating some astonishing, enjoyable and moving soundtracks. This duo is clearly searching for the still undiscovered musical elements, that may exist in the Techno Ambient, Electronic New Age, World, Trance, Experimental and Psychedelic territory, they are innovative which draws on a large range of excellent Electronic/Ambient music, that should be liked by anyone who enjoys interesting music. Different from her first band (Curved Air), Sonja Kristina has a clear deep voice that sounds almost hypnotic, blended with Marvin´s electro-acoustic environments, everything together in a new and interesting way. The end result is a true journey into a magic and mystical space, with some wonderful sounding electronic soundscapes and musical passages. "Heavy Petal" was produced by Marvin Ayres at Atelier studios London, additional engineering by Andrew Smillie, technical support by Andrew Smillie, mastered by Andrew Smillie and Marvin Ayres. "Heavy Petal" is divided into two parts: Side one - CD - 15 Tracks: "Dark Murmur", "Global Incantation", "Paean", "Fall So Hard", "Healing Senses", "Blue Words", "Shelter Skelter", "Free", "Sliding Universe", "Lambent Spire", "Beloved", "Living Inside My Head", "Waking The Dream", "Sound Of Tears Forming" and "Those Ghosts", the 15 tracks are all very quiet, very relaxing and mostly atmospheric. Side two - 5.1 Surround Sound DVD Healing Senses - 3 Tracks: Free, Lambent Spire, Healing Senses. The musicians on Mask are: Sonja Kristina - Vocals, Overtoning, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar and Marvin Ayres - Vocals, Overtoning, Cello, Violin, Piano and Sampling. Brilliant and fantastic an indispensable work, highly recommendable...  (Comments by Carlos Vaz)