Eastern Sun is Brian Saitzyk, aka Fuz, Mind Modern, and Numatic Soul. On this release for Ball Of Waxx he is joined by labemate and BOW co-founder John Kelley, which brings the energy of his breaks background to Brian's Buddhist beats and instrumentation. So you get a nice mixture of Eastern contemplation and West Coast energy on the eleven tracks that span just over an hour on this release. With a little more ubran grittiness, this would be a trip-hop record, but as it is, it's just a well-crafted bridge between two genres that normally don't have much common ground.
The album's third cut, "Rapture As Sea," was released as a single and garnered lots of airplay and critical praise. So it speaks well that the real gem on the disc is actually the following track, "Beautiful Being," which features the siren-sweet vocals of Monica Hayes backed by Marni Bergstrom. That cut is also available on an edit on a EP that features three remixes by BOW crew Brian Seed, Linnear and Lord Runningclam, a working alias for another of the BOW founders, Dave deLaski. Oh, and two other unreleased tracks as well.
And while we're on the subject of extra stuff, the digital download of the In Emptiness contains a special remix by Brian and John of "If You Want To Be Yourself" by Brothers Behind The Light and the supercool Supreme Beings Of Leisure. The rest of tracks are instrumentals with the exception of Caitanya Riggin's vocals on "To The Sun" and all flow forth from the speakers to your ears in a manner befitting titles like "Silent Truth," "God and Void"
and "The I of Spirit."
More compelling than ambient, less driving than downtempo, In Emptiness embodies the spirit of meditation in music: balance and harmony in service of a greater purpose.
