Sheila Chandra has been assiduously ploughing her own furrow since she left early - '80s Indian popsters Monsoon, experimenting with vocal textures and worldbeats with partner and producer Steve Coe. This album is her most fully realised yet. Aided by the virtual Ganges Orchestra (a fresh set of electronic sounds and ideas), she moves from the muscular percussion and tremulous melody of This, to chattering tongues (Is), to scratchy analogue echoes (Mien). Chandra's rich voice is the unifying thread, particularly on the haunting True, which builds from Gregorian plainsong to a pulsating wall of sound a la Spiritualized.
