Soles On Earth

Album Review

Zingaia is the stage name adopted by keyboardist and composer Mike Breene, who is joined on this album by singers Abbi Spinner McBride, Tamara Stadler and Katlyn Breene. The music they make together falls into the exotic/sacred/trance/dance/worldbeat category that basically translates into "gently funky electronic music that sounds vaguely like it must come from Africa or India or somewhere but don't worry too much about the cultural specifics." And if you can resist thinking too hard about the details, there's lots of pleasure to be had here, in the nicely harmonized vocals and dark, loping bass on "Soles on Earth," the dubbed-up and vaguely sexy vocals on "Sahaja," and the exotically funky "Bone Dance." There may or may not be anything spiritual about this music, and there's certainly nothing "ancient" about it (despite the occasional references to the Hindu elephant god Ganesh and the use of faux-tribal voices), but the grooves are all perfectly serviceable and the textures are rich and pleasing. Recommended. (The disc includes a video as a CD-ROM bonus track.)