Mickey Hart
Spirit Into Sound

review = A

Mickey Hart has done it again. Last time, the former Grateful Dead drummer unleashed -Supralingua-. Mixing primal urgency with 21st century technology, -Supralingua- was edgy and hot - a wired, 500 pound rhythm gorilla on a looped and sampled joy ride into the future. -Spirit Into Sound- is a much mellower trip. More of a gentle journey to the center of the soul than exhilerating exploration of the cosmic outer limits. This time, the grooves are smoother, the vibe more serene. One similarity - Hart again uses vocals as an instrument. No lyrics, just melodious abstractions without words. The result is an exotic voicescape painted in shapes and colors rather than detailed images... very dreamy and surreal.

As the companion to the book of the same name, -Spirit Into Sound- is an enhanced CD that includes a web browser and short video of Hart talking about the album. "Music makes us feel good," he tells us. "It is the key to the subconscious." Not only has Hart been using his musical skeleton key to unlock the doorways to awareness for a long time, he’s figured out how to leave the door open so the rest of us can transmute our own -Spirit Into Sound-.