'Gnosis,' is Oregon-based composer Jeffrey Ericson Allen’s 5th release for Spotted Peccary Music and 9th as Chronotope Project, intimately explores the bond between the composer’s two life passions: music and philosophy. Conceptually inspired here by the ancient Greek philosophers, Chronotope Project takes on the mantle of the supplicant seeker of knowledge throughout this 52 minute journey in six tracks that vary in length from 6:20 to 11:36. There is a great description of this journey on the Chronotope Project website, but I'm not going to repeat it here.

Beginning with "Higgs Field: Cauldron of Being," an arpeggio in the background anchors elongated sustained tones and drones while the very light rhythm track propels this soundship forward. Once again Jeffrey's use of the Haken Continuum Fingerboard (an instrument which affects a smooth glissando sound) is a signature sound throughout, giving a placid and languorous tenor to the music. For some odd reason the progressive bass at the beginning of "Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness" reminded me of Pentangle, more in its jazzy and mystical elements than folk tradition. It is a very cool track full of wonder and a sort of innocence, with something like muted electric piano or celeste. Of course, the Haken Continuum weaves in and out with its pedal steel sound, like cirrus clouds drifting by. No percussion here as the track really doesn't need it. "Eidos, Realm of the Forms" offers a much different vibe; more mysterious and somewhat abstract. It also recalls synthesizer albums of the '70s and '80s with its use of the modulation wheel and portamento on the lead. Percussion does emerge eventually on this track; light but effective.

"The Still Small Voice: The Muse Speaks" seems to be the most minimal track on the album, a bucolic and homey sounding piece with only the Haken and strings (mostly chordal) in a sort of melancholy duet, and a harp-like instrument coming in toward the end. "Entelechy, Emergent Order" is like a mini-epic within the journey; fluid, yet rife with ideas, sonically rich and subtly adventurous melodically, dramatically flirting with darkness, an entity of its own. The journey ends with "Myth of the Cave," the longest track on the album, and also the most abstract and enigmatic as well. Dreamlike and cinematic, this is the most tenuous and nightmarish track on the album, and it ends...disturbingly inconclusive.

Definitely a different perspective on this Chronotope Project album than what I've heard before, and I really, really like it. I have to quote something from the artist's website - "Gnosis is one of many Greek words for knowledge, referring to knowledge gained through experience. The breadth of this album reflects this: Gnosis traverses the ominous and serene, the harmonic and the dissonant to render the accords and contradictions of philosophy in Chronotope Project’s signature cinematic sound." I could not have put that better myself.