The Scottish musical visionary
Sushil K. Dade leads his group
Future Pilot A.K.A. through diverse territories, ranging from Warp-style electronica to folk-inflected pop, and the composer has employed in his ranks
Belle & Sebastian,
the Delgados,
Teenage Fanclub, and
the Pastels as collaborators. On this album for Geographic, he recruits this cast of friends on a celebration of his Indian heritage, and an outstandingly psychedelic treatment is given to a list of favored traditional chants, spirituals, and ragas. Recalling in part the Eastern infatuations of
George Harrison and especially
the Byrds,
Tiny Waves, Mighty Sea goes off on some spectacular tangents; "Darshan" and "Opel Waters" are standouts with exceptional improvisational passages. "Ananda Is the Ocean" features vocals by
Stuart Murdoch with a chorus featuring
Katrina Mitchell and
Isobel Campbell, who create stunning polyphonics. Throughout,
Future Pilot A.K.A. provides a musical backing of high invention and intrigue that deploys equal measures of electronics and band instrumentation.
–
Skip Jansen, Rovi