Alaura – Sacred Dreams

Definitely worth checking for fans of minimal, melodic early 90s ambience, especially if you have new age leanings. I can absolutely see how the vocals (which vary from breathy singing to soft spoken-word) could detract for some, but if you can get past them the overall effect is quite serene. There is also a distinct flow to the album, with two instrumentals followed by two vocal pieces (one sung, one spoken), then that pattern repeated again until the end. How intentional that was I’m not sure, but it’s effective, and creates the illusion of interconnectivity. I’m not disappointed I picked this up, and I can see it becoming a fixture in my collection.

What could be a reasonable 90s ambient album is ruined by 3 or 4 tracks that have very annoying female vocals on them . Maybe it is just me but I prefer an ambient album to be instrumental .

I actually owned this CD twice! I purchased it brand new back in the day because I had much faith in the Silent label and liked the packaging plus I was expecting something along the lines of Psychic TV since Alaura had spent so many years in that legendary band. I was disappointed in how slow this CD was and quickly sold my copy. Only years later as my ears grew more mature with listening to music, that I picked up this CD again only to listen to it in a very different way. It's very soothing and nice and represents everything opposite Psychic TV crazy techno/house music (which I tend to like as well!). This CD is great for meditation or listening to while drifting off to sleep. There is something quite magical about this release and only wish Alaura had followed up with this release. Well, there's still time, right?