The Myth Of Red
In the never-ending move to cross novel musical idioms,The Myth of Redhas an air of inevitability about it. An ambitious fusion of opera arias, Russian folk tunes, and art songs with beat-driven electronic soundscapes, the album largely succeeds in bridging incongruous musical worlds. A gifted classically trained vocalist, fetching soprano Sasha Lazard lends her talents to 13 tracks inspired by or based on Rachmaninoff, Verdi, Saint-Saëns, "Ave Maria," and "The Incubus" by the notorious poet Charles Baudelaire. Nimbly aided by the production, programming, and keyboards of Frank Fitzpatrick and David Tobocman, the lovely violin of Lili Hayden, and production ringersDJ SpookyandDelerium, Lazard delivers a smooth, classy, and fairly sedate collection that will appeal more to adventurous classical and world-music fans than hard-core electronic aficionados.The Myth of Redsucceeds most when it picks up the pace on tracks like "Forbidden Dance," "Awakening," and the slyly funky "Temptation." Not surprisingly, two of the best tracks are DJ Spooky's galloping "Battle of Erishkigal" and a remix of "Awakening" by the incomparable Delerium, an act whose depth of feeling and mystery Lazard and her crew seem to strive for but don't quite achieve. Fusing several centuries of music is no small task, but Sasha Lazard actually makes it seem natural, which is a testament to her talent, training, and choice of company.--Carl Hanni