The new sampler from Prikosovenie label is centered upon the five elements. The first element is earth, and is the most world oriented centered upon african rhythms and harmonic chants, and is centered upon "Materia Prima" a mesmerizing song by Jean-Paul Trutet. Water is the element which is symbolized by quiet voices and soft sounds of flutes and harp, the peak of this part is the intimate voice of Julien Jacob. Fire is the element of the household and, so, we enter in ethereal territories with Dendelion Wine, Dizzi Dulcimer and Stellamara. The use of ancient instruments is nothing new these days but the intricate lines of "Dizzi jig" is worth of a listening... a really enjoyable pieces. Air include the most resonance based tunes in theory, but in practice is the logical prosecution of the previous part. Personally i would switch the Caprice tune "memory" with "XVII" by Dendelion Wine in the tracklist but the elements separation is not to be taken seriously, of course. The space part includes the most ambient and drone music from this label and feature two notably tracks "L'impatiente" a track by Lys centered upon an hypnotic carillon and field recordings with a stunning musical result. This album is closed by "Pruits stellaire" by Daniel Perret and Crista Galli, based upon harmonic chants and resonance with could be a soundtrack for some meditations.
This compilation has a direction: from the world music to the ambient, and cosmic, music. So it's not the classic sampler of 16 songs a label thinks should be of some interest. It's a good introduction for a label which seems to have a clear vision of the sound it would be associated with. If you like new-age it's worth of a listening because it contains al least two gems at the end of this long sampler.