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Artist: Sirian Title: Havona Label: Merkaba Music Released: March 20, 2017 Tracks: 1. Angelic Embrace 2. Alchemedium 3. Íonú 4. Keepers of the Garden 5. The Fabric of Stars 6. Aontacht Cosmal 7. Golden Love 8. Somnambulist 9. Stranger of the Forest Alrighty, so I found Sirian through Merkaba's music page, as usual it's hard to find any great info about so we will just jump right into the review. 1. Angelic Embrace starts of with a nice little intro some talk about dimensions and time all that jazz. some pretty instrumentals come through and we get our first feel for a baseline coming in. 2.41 minutes in we get the kick and a very groovy bassline. A nice little melody comes through as we are taken on a journey through musical dimensions. The track is pretty hot, not a straight banger but a good intro into whats to come with some original melodies. 5/8 2. Alchamedium starts with another groovy intro. We are getting some great ambient Goa influences throughout this track, a lil voilin, a lil fiddle. I can;t tell but it's a nice change. 6/8 3. Íonú brings us another nice instrumental intro, some flute and string come in leading us to a little vocal about visions. Dancing to this track is a sinch, got a very early morning feel to it. The kick does start to feel repetitive which I know is a weird critique for a Goa track. I think the use of real world sounds probably makes it more apparent. 2.20 - Wait a minute! We get a very nice melody come at us. Aaaand i'm proven wrong straight away there is actually nothing repetitive about this track. I could just delete that comment but i'm writing as I go so I'll leave the journey here for everyone to read. A very floaty track from Sirian with clear highs and lows. The end vocals are lovely. A track you can dance or sleep to i believe. 6/8 4. Keepers of the Garden follows what seems to be an album theme of floaty intro's and then hits us with the sexiest bassline of the album so far. It's hot guys and gals, real hot. We get some lasers and soft vocals before some instruments come in to take us away. The track transitions nicely from beginning to middle nothing super exciting to throw us off the direction it's gonna take but that's just a personal thing that i appreciate. A taste of electric guitar does however leave me hoping for more. The final ambient break leads into a burst of vocals and strings, the under tone of electronic sounds (I don't know my sounds well enough to tell you if it's acid lines or what not) but it's electronic subtetly is nice addition however, it does leave me thinking the album could do with a little more elctro influences. 7/8 5. The Fabric of Stars gets to business a little faster than the rest of the tracks so far. The flute over the kick is nice but lacking a little psychedelia. For those who love that ambi-unce i'm sure you'll like this track. Very fine-tuned and a little busier than the other tracks so far which is most certainly a big ++PLUS++. Oh and that Didgeridoo, I am yet to hear some didg in trance that i don't dig. The track doesn't take you on any great journeys but still managers to come out with some stomping melodies. They don't all last as long as I would like but the track progressions makes up for it, it all fits together so well. 6/8 6. Aontacht Cosmal a lovely vocal distortion pulls us right into this track with another hot bassline to follow. the vocals roll over and under the kick very nicely. Sirian is clearly very particular about his production. If you find yourself appreciating fine-tuned tracks then you'll definitely be appreciating this one. A little more psychedelic than the other tracks which is a nice break from the intricacies of the instrumentals we have heard so far. the final break once again makes me eat my words with a nice little trumpet or maybe saxophone? solo. It fits in nicely and brings us to the conclusion. A much ravier track than the others, something i would love to hear in a club. 7/8 7. Lets see what Golden Love has in store for us. Coming at us hard and fast we get rewarded with some hard hitting kicks and a funky fiddle (??) solo bouncing over the track. Oh damn i like the way this is progressing, a little something different after the mid break and then back into the banger that it started out as. Another beautiful example of trance working with native instruments to create a beautiful symphony 6/8 8. Somnabulist wasn't written to give us a break. going hard right from the start we have more vocals floating up under the kick. Finally a track that you can;t help but get lost in, always a good thing I say. Easily the most psychedelic track thus far, probably something to do with the lack of native instruments. A straight banger that would go down a treat at any open air fest. 7/8 and the best track on the album ( I guess in all relativity its a solid 8/8) 9. Stranger of the Forest Our Journey is almost over and i'm not sure whether to expect a downtempo or final hard hitting track to drive me home, in a sense this albums is what happens when calm meets crazy. Aaaaand it aint downtempo . This track has it all, it's got 6 different people on vocals, it's got harp, it's got guitar, it's got cymbal washes. The most fitting end to the album I can imagine. a change of pace comes at us around a third of the way in and then takes us back to instrumental magic. Ah and then some groovy basslines hit us right before we get a taste of that sax. Another banger for the album bringing our banger count up to 3 which isn't bad and most certainly not the sole intent of the album. 8/8 Havona is a nice little addition to the library, any one who loves those jazzy vibes will herald this album. My main complaint is the lack of psychedelia, while the album doesn't lack a strong kick in any songs it does at times miss the opportunity to get me out of my chair dancing in my living room by myself. Although that did happen at various points throughout I feel this would be absolutely killer with a live band. Anyone that has spent a night in Rainbow Serpent's Playground tent will feel me on that. The ratings got better as I went along so it didn't stop me from enjoying them when they came around. A must listen for anyone who wants something unexpected and original. 6/8 and plenty of tracks to help DJ's keep a crowds interest. Well done Sirian keep it coming https://sirianmusic.bandcamp.com/album/havona https://merkabamusic1.bandcamp.com/album/havona