I think that this musician is highly overrated, and this CD in particular has been getting some good reviews even though it doesn't really do anything. Sheila's voice was used to reasonably good effect on her other albums, but here, her looping high pitch leads to some embarrassing results. Honestly, how can anyone sit through something like this without cringing?

I suppose that New-Age music lovers have made it fashionable to state that they're into 'exotic Indian fare', which would explain why people rave about this singer's work even though most of it is a) unoriginal , b) boring and c) lacks content. Sure, shes pretty enough and is passable but to, like some reviewers, call her the 'find of the century' is going a bit too far. At best, this CD is silly and unnecessary and yet another attempt by Real World Records to put up obscure stuff on the shelf, package and market it well, and watch it sell by the dozen.

Highly forgettable.

Normally, words like "ambient" send me fleeing to the hills in search of real music. But if you've tried some of Chandra's other experimental work (like some of "Quiet" or "This Sentence is True") and liked them, you should DEFINITELY get this one - it's probably the best of the lot. Why? It's so hard to verbalize - which fits right in with the artist's intentions, which seem to be to let you in on the raw, unanalyzed creative process. Really, this sort of thing really doesn't sound like it would appeal to me, but it's truly intoxicating listening.

However, if her previous RealWorld discs stretch your patience at times, then don't go near this disk. If you aren't willing to let yourself simply become immersed in the textures for "uneventful" minutes on end, you won't last it through this disk.

Now, could someone actually explain to me why other "ambient" music leaves me utterly cold?

Beautiful! (see other reviews), but beyond that Sheila is actually unveiling and laying bare the hidden structure of music. First she sings a melody, then the melody is echoed by emphasizing the various overtones of the fundamental droning frequency. Bypass those complex models of music theories, scales, melodies, and instead hear them! It's not just a drone, the harmonic filtering on the drones magnifies the hidden melodies and harmonies that already exist everywhere in nature. You have to listen to this in a quiet environment on good equipment, and focus on the sounds of the drones and how the harmonics change over time (to echo Sheila's vocal melodies) to understand this album. The reviewer who gave it 1 star must have listened to this casualy, on junk equipment, while driving and not heard the almost subliminal (if your not listening for them) melodies in the drones. This isn't world-pop with simple melodies, and it's not just another music CD. It's a form of acoustic art that transcends music, and shows the beauty of the harmonic structure found in all of nature. Before long you'll be hearing melodies in the drones of florescent lights, electrical transformers, engines, your refridgerator, or your heating system.