by Skip Jansen
The Scottish musical visionary Sushil K. Dade leads his group Future Pilot A.K.A. through diverse territories, ranging from Warp-style electronica to folk-inflected pop, and the composer has employed in his ranks Belle & Sebastian, the Delgados, Teenage Fanclub, and the Pastels as collaborators. On this album for Geographic, he recruits this cast of friends on a celebration of his Indian heritage, and an outstandingly psychedelic treatment is given to a list of favored traditional chants, spirituals, and ragas. Recalling in part the Eastern infatuations of George Harrison and especially the Byrds, Tiny Waves, Mighty Sea goes off on some spectacular tangents; "Darshan" and "Opel Waters" are standouts with exceptional improvisational passages. "Ananda Is the Ocean" features vocals by Stuart Murdoch with a chorus featuring Katrina Mitchell and Isobel Campbell, who create stunning polyphonics. Throughout, Future Pilot A.K.A. provides a musical backing of high invention and intrigue that deploys equal measures of electronics and band instrumentation.