Deva Premal & Miten (Official Website):
A Deeper Light, the beautiful new album from Deva Premal & Miten, offers a sensuous, hypnotic journey into the realms of ecstatic bliss and deepening connections of the heart.
Joined by the enchanting flute flights of Nepalese bansuri maestro Manose, keyboard wizard Maneesh de Moor and producer Joby Baker, this great new release brings a fresh, vibrant energy to the world's oldest music, infusing powerful healing mantras from ancient India with dub inspired grooves. No digital instruments were used, the players looking for a natural, organic, openhearted feeling to compliment Deva and Miten's haunting vocals. The album includes eight sacred chants that weave trance-like thru rhythmic landscapes to a place of joyful stillness, filled with a deeper light.
"These sacred chants can transform your mood or melt away stress after a long day.... A Deeper Light will soothe your soul." -Shannon Sexton, Yoga Journal
"Devotional, reverent music combined with exceptional talent and creative performance." -Joe Kara, LA Yoga
"Elegant.. fresh and full of heart." Music Design In Review
White Swan Records:
With, A Deeper Light , Deva Premal & Miten intertwine their trademark Sanskrit mantras with sensual, dub-inspired grooves. Yoga’s number one chanteuse lends her distinctive vibrato to the hypnotic vibe, heightening the inherent power of the sacred chants she sensually intones.
“We’ve always wanted to do a tantric-mantra dub album,” says Miten, who co-produced the album with old friend and fellow Englishman, Joby Baker and keyboardist Maneesh de Moor. “The tempos we compose in are quite slow, and the one-drop of dub really suits us. All we had to do was stay focused and as the sessions progressed, ask ourselves the daily, basic existential question, "...is it tantric?"
Recently reconnecting with Baker (whose production credits include Cowboy Junkies, Toni Childs and Alex Cuba) after 20 years, Deva and Miten made the spontaneous decision to record the album at his rural Vancouver home, where they immediately felt comfortable. Maintaining focus was never an issue, and the relaxed sound is evidence enough that they made the right choice. With its meditative vibe and unhurried tempos, A Deeper Light evokes the experience of a moonlit bamboo grove in India, the scent of jasmine wafting sultrily on the breeze.
The producers went for a very warm, organic sound, requiring the artist’s to take a new approach. Rather than weeks of solo sessions and bouncing tracks back and forth via the internet, all of the musicians – Deva and Miten were joined by their live show accompanists, Nepalese bansuri flute maestro Manose and the aforementioned Dutch keyboard virtuoso Maneesh de Moor, as well as Richard Moody on violin and viola -- spent two weeks together in Baker’s intimate studio, working as a group in real time on every track to get a sound and a vibe that was much more live than studied. Almost all the instruments used were acoustic, with live drums, bass, piano, guitar, and violins. Miten comments, “Everything ‘moved air’ – and that’s what makes the music breathe.”
“We wanted to create a natural feel, no digitally programmed or processed instruments, healthy on the ears and the heart. It has a warmth and a simplicity to it -- it’s my favorite album so far.” adds Deva Premal.Indeed, this refreshing new work brings a vibrant, sensual energy to the world’s oldest devotional music – and presents a fresh direction for the enduringly popular artists. In these turbulent times, Deva and Miten’s chilled out Sanskrit chants offer something of a musical balm to calm the nerves and nourish the tortured spirit. This authentic and honest expression of love and commitment to a spiritual path is what sets them apart from their musical contemporaries.In Deva Premal and Miten’s view, “We see ourselves more as flame carriers of a 5,000 year old tradition than emotion-based musicians. The music we make is born out of a committed spiritual practice. We meditate -- we investigate -- and our music is a result of that experience. It’s more a case of life and death than entertainment!”
Bells Media:
'A Deeper Light' ...Music to disappear into...
To feel like you are sitting in the depths of a bamboo grove on a warm Indian starlit night, the sound of mantras floating from the distance in the jasmine scented air, this latest offering 'A Deeper Light', by Deva Premal & Miten, takes you right there. A place where ancient, healing mantras merge magically with earthy, sensual moonlit grooves.
The much travelled and well-loved duo invite us to witness the auspicious moment of two rivers meeting. The hypnotic meditative vibe, slow tempos and trance-like dub sections hold and caress the sacred texts of the mantras with deep respect and dignity.
'A Deeper Light' features the sensual voices of Deva Premal and Miten, the enchanting bansuri of Nepalese maestro, Manose - and Dutch keyboard wizard, Maneesh de Moor. Recorded in the wilds of Canada with UK award winning producer Joby Baker, this evocative gathering of worldly master musicians brings a fresh, vibrant energy to the world's most ancient prayers.
“We wanted to create a natural feel, no digitally programmed instruments, easy on the ears and healthy on the heart. The music has a warmth and a simplicity to it - my favourite album so far”, says Deva.
