On This Earth

by David JeffriesNow this is a departure. Excluding the cathedral reverb on Walk in Beauty, Primeaux & Mike's releases have featured straightforward recordings of their traditional peyote songs. Considering the hallucinatory origins of the music, it always made for a dreamy experience. Now the electronic foundation that producer Jim Wilson has given On This Earth makes it otherworldly. Wilson might as well have added his name to the cover since his programming and keyboards fill the numerous moments that vocalists Primeaux & Mike are absent, and the album sounds more like his genre-mixing recordings with Robbie Roberston and Tulku than the singers' previous albums. Primeaux & Mike's harmonies are still rich and reflective, and the backing tracks never get in the way. The title track's English lyrics are a bit too precious for their own good, but it's the only misstep the album takes. Primeaux's own English lyrics to "Mystical Warriors" are, on the other hand, lovely. Gentle breakbeats, flutes, and Michael Brook-like washes of sound fill the album while avoiding the usual ethno-fusion clichés. Considering it's such a deviation, On This Earth shouldn't be the only Primeaux & Mike album in anyone's collection, and Wilson has much to prove before being crowned the new Jon Hassell. Still, the album touches the healing and mental unlocking possibilities of the peyote dreams that inspired it.