The Garden of Mirrors

On "Passing Cloud," the shakuhachi wafts over a slowly pulsing field of four steel drums and two sinding, while "Gates of Fire" uses bowed sinding to add introductory menace to a stately processional orchestra of percussion, steel drums, and a dozen overdubs of the various flutes. On "Flowers in Chaos," a single high-pitched suling expands to 22, arriving like a flock of exotic birds. It's not just the cross-cultural content of these instruments that makes the music distinctive. Their sounds are close to nature, whether evoking birds or rivers, wind or rain. Micus's wordless singing never mimics a single culture; the pieces are as apt to suggest Native American music as the South African townships or India. In Micus's meditations, technology can turn the one voice into many, or merge diverse elements into a united dreamscape. --Stuart Broomer