PHIsonica

There aren´t many composers who take the time to encode their music with overtones that activate your cosmic inner being, even among the assortment of ambient opuses found at Whole Foods next to the crystals and the yoga mats. But Eric Dez and Ankhuphara, two Miami-based multi-instrumentalists and vibrational healers, have come together to form PHIsonica, dedicating their first release, Starseed Journey, to ¨all brothers and sisters of the Earth who are consciously creating,¨ with a special shoutout in the liner notes to the love and guidance of ¨the sacred celestial beings.¨ The group´s name and the composition of the album are directly related to Phi ratios, a sacred geometry explored in The Da Vinci Code, among other works. One lively tune, ¨Namaste,¨ a Hindi word meaning ¨I bow to you,¨ tracks live handclaps, a searching wind-synth, and a bass melody over the whispering affirmation ¨the divinity in me/Honor/The divinity in you.¨ Remember that pop song by Enigma from the early 1990s called ¨Sadeness (Part I)¨ that had that cool Gregorian chanting over a disco beat? PHIsonica´s ¨Mission 2013¨ harks back to it but does one better by throwing in sitar and some East Indian Punjabi chanting. Then there´s the danceable Native American powwow chants in ¨Astral Unity¨ set off by a chattering didgeridoo, rustling wind chimes, and djembe drumming, and the tropical rainforest birdsong of ¨Spectral Dream.¨ The counterpointing sounds on this album are hypnotizing and draw the listener deeper and deeper into the center of being and wholeness. Thankfully, we don´t have to know a thing about chakras or phi to benefit from PHIsonica´s world fusion electronica.