Crystal

This collection of experimental pieces by Maggi Payne stakes out its own ground in the margins between specific genres. It's more challenging than ambient, while sharing certain similarities with it; it's not necessarily melodic in a traditional sense, but it's not mere dissonance, either; and while definitely evoking a sense of place (though strange & uncomfortable places at times), it's more than abstract soundscape.The most I can do is recommend sampling it, though you need more than 30-second snippets to fully appreciate it -- this requires immersion in the music, giving yourself over to it. And now I've gone & made it sound like a chore, or something that's grimly good for you, really it is, really, like a dose of castor oil! But it's nothing like that in the least.If I had to try & describe this music, it would be dreamlike -- not in a gauzy, ethereal way, but in an otherworldly way, where dreams darken & edge into the possibility of nightmare, sometimes even slipping into it. Yet it's also oddly transporting as well ... if you're willing to be taken to someplace unfamiliar & often unsettling, of course.It's not for every taste, and not for every mood. But if you give it a chance, you may well find yourself responding to it at some level deeper than words. For those willing to try something a bit different, highly recommended!

Nothing really to add to the above review except to second the critic's high opinion & say that I love this collection of Maggi Payne's art. Bob Rixon, WFMU-FM