Final verdict: 9/10 ★★★★⋆˙⟡
The stars aligned; the heavens have spoken. Indian ambient musician Chaiitanya Bulusu (better known by his stage name of “Layer Music Project” or the nickname “Chatty”) released the fourth installment of his “Secret Garden” album series just last week – this volume is entitled “Echoes of the Forgotten”, and there is quite a bit to be said of it. For starters, it is an electronic ambient album, described by the artist himself as “a journey through time and sound”. And, well… that is a claim that would be difficult to refute. This album is as trippy as they come, convincingly blending elements of traditional Georgian and Indian music with the contemporary electronics we all know and love. It does indeed feel like a time capsule from a bygone era, while simultaneously being a firm leap into the future. And I swear, I’m not contradicting myself here – listen to the album for yourself and let me know how it fares.
On first impression, this album quite reminded me of the albums to come out electronica boom of the 1990s – perhaps it is the oddity synthesizers that sold it that way to me. But this is not that, no – again, the most accurate genre classification would perhaps be “electronic ambient”, and yet this record isn’t limited to just that label. I reckon the most apt descriptor would ultimately be “historical sci-fi movie soundtrack”, in which way it reminds me a lot of Haruomi Hosono’s “Cochin Moon” (1978) – an album that came into existence precisely to act as the soundtrack to a fictional Bollywood film. Only unlike Hosono’s venture into this sort of thing, this is a listen that’s a lot easier to follow, while still keeping its psychedelic heart beating. That is to say, yes, it is in fact surreal and disorienting, but not so much so that it’s impossible to find your footing in it. It feels like forbidden club music, while also being quite approachable in its ways.
The soundscapes of “Echoes of the Forgotten” are haunting, to say the least. To contradict myself once again – the arrangements here are detailed and obviously carefully orchestrated, while at the same time breathing out an aura of sparsity and abandonment. How that is possible, I am not certain – but this album’s existence is here to convince me it is. The instrumentation is very pretty, with glorious electric piano patches and dreamy synths leading the way, and with incredibly textured percussion providing the rhythmic backdrop – giving the listener the impression that their skull is being crushed, and they better be grateful for it. This entire thing is drenched in reverb-heavy, ethereal vocals, more-than-merely-occasional ethnic chants, and other vocal chops – a highlight being the despairing cries towards the end of “The Forbidden Rite”, before a series of finger snaps try their damndest to wake the listener up from this fever dream; an attempt that is in vain, for this album strongly carries on for several more songs.
This is, by all regards, an incredibly immersive listening experience. Again, it feels like the soundtrack to a historical-but-also-futuristic sci-fi film about otherworldly civilizations that try to imitate Earth humanity, and somehow… somewhat succeed? This project is as elusive as the track titles (“Serpent’s Lullaby”, get out of here) and the occasional lyrics (“Those who live in sapphire homes…”) suggest. Before it even is music, it is a journey through space and time, a good fantasy novel capable of transforming the mundane into a life-defining experience, a cosmic trip, whatever you want to call it. Stuck in eternal limbo, the fragmented parts of one’s psyche are somehow brought together through the sheer artistry of this album – and I am by no means exaggerating here. Again, check it out for yourself, and you’ll soon be convinced of its magical quality. Each song seamlessly flows into the next, and as such, this is more of a psychedelic opera than any run-of-the-mill ambient record. Layer Music Project really pulled out the big guns with this one – a sign of good things to come. 9/10.
Silia 
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