Mark Seelig & Sam Rosenthal - Journey to Aktehi (2017)

Sam Rosenthal: Songwriter and keyboardist from the band Black Tape For A Blue Girl
Mark Seelig: Solo artist, transpersonal psychotherapist, and shamanic practitioner
On the border between electronic spacemusic and organic indigenous music, this release is an exhilarating and ecstatic exploration of the subjective land of Aktehi. The primary ingredients in the hallucinogenic soundscapes are Seelig's Bansuri flute and harmonic chanting. Rosenthal's subtle electronics, processing and production creates space for the mind-expanding travel akin to an altered state of consciousness.
"This album is alarmingly beautiful and unreal. As if the musicians have been given notes by something we don't see in the physical realm." - Matt Rowe, MusicTap
Envisioned as a psychedelic trip with the flute and chants of the shamanic main character leading the listener on a journey of sound, Journey to Aktehi is a three-part meditation free of percussive rhythms. The sonic textures intricately expand and develop, supporting water, flute, breath, and (overtone) voice. Unlike similar works that maintain a steady-state throughout each track, these pieces take flight and explore; the artists incorporate new elements along the way to maintain a fresh, vibrant experience from beginning to end.
"When I began this collaboration with Mark," Sam reflects, "my desire was to take the listener into non-ordinary reality, a crossing into an imagined mountainous desert region I named 'Aktehi.' Mark's intense voice and expressive flute provide the lift out of our consensus belief system. His performance becomes both the environment and the spiritbody for the shamanic character illustrated on the cover. With his ally animals and totems, he leads us into water canyons and up windy steppes where we undertake initiative inward examination as the music's power takes hold."
"Rosenthal's collaboration with Seelig blends a strange union of that which is electric, and that which is fashioned by nature. Mixed with unworldly chant, that blend feels like a restorative gateway: a return to what we once were and should be now." - Matt Rowe, MusicTap
Journey to Aktehi serves as admission to another realm: a psychoactive musical experience with a transportive effect upon consciousness.
Tracklist:
01.Mark Seelig & Sam Rosenthal - He Became The Wind
02.Mark Seelig & Sam Rosenthal - Voices In The Water
03.Mark Seelig & Sam Rosenthal - Meditation On The Skeleton