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Ambient Temple of Imagination * Mystery School * Silent 1994
If you are looking for relief from the cliched doodlings and minimalist soundscapes which characterize many generic ambient excursions, Mystery School will come as an invigorating sonic refreshment. Starting from an inspired Tony Bennett sample ("I Left My Heart In San Francisco"), the finely textured instrumental layers blend digital sources, organic sounds, and vocal cut-ups into soundscapes which are vivid with narrative. Over the last two years, Ambient Temple of Imagination have been responsible for some of the most innovative and successfully experimental ambient environments I've had the pleasure of experiencing. With a constant eye to the wider possibilities presented by the freeform nature of ambience, ATOI more than competently translate their live creativity into recorded inspiration. Hinting at the electronic avant-garde (eerie hypnotizing multi-track vocals, light drones and dirges) without ever falling into self-indulgence, tracks like "Glossolalia" stimulate the frontal lobes with a synaesthetic bombardment. If you're looking for something unchallenging, this isn't for you, but let Mystery School play with your attention and you'll be rewarded generously. ATOI evoke fragmentary shards of magickal consciousness dancing into our dimension disguised as songs, ... oops, sorry about drifting into the adolescent hyperbole that ambient music seems to beg for. I'll just say it's interesting and original and that's good enough for me. (review by Mark Heley for Clublife Magazine #1)
XLR8R #13--MUSICAL MORPHIA with Robert Shea
Mystery School by AMBIENT TEMPLE OF I*MAGI*NATION is a collaborative full-length release between Silent and VISIBLE Records, who you have read about in these pages before. It is a continuously constructed amalgamation of amazing sonic apparitions, something that is truly for your mind as much as it is for your soul. Tracks range in energy and intensity, melt from one to the other, cover everything from hurricanes to earthquakes to outer space, and do so with such creativity as to not be describable much further than this - think early Orb, System 7, Deep Space Network.
Mystery School is a set of deep, thought-provoking compositions from Ambient Temple of Imagination - Richard Sun and Seofon. This set is steeped in the traditions of mysticism, shamanism, magic, arts, and meditation. ATOI has constructed large-scale atmospheres and dynamic soundscapes to convey the duo's messages. The overtones are somber, the textures are organic, the imagery is vivid. They add some weird samples to set the hook and reel listeners in. The sound world is curious, scary, and safe; ATOI skirts the danger zone without entering. This disc will appeal to fans of Aphex Twin, Dilate, and Solar Quest. (Review by Jim Brenholts for the All Music Guide)
Magical Ambient - lush textures.
If you can still get this disc get it. As essential as the first WOOB masterpiece. Think Aleister Crowley and a dense forest where everything is heard all at once, and you can distinguish every single sound. Richard Sun and friends are remarkable. This is One of my best and is pretty timeless sound-wise. I listened to this for about 18 hours once, and a golden pyramid briefly appeared on my floor in front of me. Each song is a spell. This will put a spell on you. It did me. (Review by Andie DeRoux for Amazon.com)