Zen Breakfast

看到封面，完全是中国古代的松下闲谈，四周云雾起伏，随着音乐的陪伴，而不知身处何处。音乐的起伏始终是柔缓而洪衬者和声。闭目聆听，音乐的主旋律是钢琴，清亮的高音是飞旋的仙鹤，盘旋着展翅，穿越在和声所形成的淡淡而密密的云雾中。去过道观吗？听到过道观中的声音吗？铁片在风中的颤抖。这是神仙的居所。这张《Zen Breakfast 道禅》是Karunesh经过数年的酝酿后，于2001年发布的专辑，同时也是著名New Age厂牌Real Music唱片公司迈进新世纪的一张唱片。Karunesh似乎要体现出一种禅道，却无意间让我们感受到一种似仙似幻的梦境。   Should one judge an album by its cover? Not artistic design, but by what seems to be promised by the art and copy? Zen Breakfast, the title, the distinctly Asian painting, and the classic Zen overflowing-teacup story all point to music offering empty-mind austerity, the stuff of wind cutting through bamboo on a moonless night. Karunesh tosses a bamboo bone in that direction with occasional Asian melodies using sampled shakuhachi flute and accents of gongs and chimes. On the whole his music is reflective, but, simplistic though it may seem, zen experiences necessitate a stillness, a grating between the impermanance of sound and the everything/nothing of the void. Zen Breakfast is not that, but the album does offer a serene, meditative -at times even blissful — musical experience. Karunesh does not stray far from beautiful, lush pads of resonant synth strings and Western-friendly scales, melodic lines, chord fills, and harmonies. The music pulses with a relaxed reflective breathing cadence tinged with a mystical melancholy. A few surprises — the spooky whish of a bullroarer and the silken blusy guitar played by — waken the senses, but you won't feel like punishing your knees with a severe round of zazen meditation. offers music to get lost in dreamy reveries, not to "just observe" the mind.