Ceremony

James Hood is renowned as a vital and versatile musical pioneer, with a lengthy and varied musical resume that includes playing drums in The Pretenders, his ongoing two-decades-plus run as mastermind of the visionary ambient/electronica act Moodswings and an expansive array of production and soundtrack projects. As far-ranging as his body of work is, there's nothing in composer, producer and percussionist Hood's prolific catalog to prepare the listener for his new project; Ceremony. This personally charged project offers a quietly riveting set of improvised instrumental pieces performed exclusively by Hood on an instrument called a PanArt Hang, a double-layered metal drum possessing unique tonal and melodic properties. The result is a mesmerizing musical journey whose effortless appeal transcends time and genre. James chose to record Ceremony in the acoustically perfect sound chamber of the Integratron, a legendary mystical setting of Joshua Tree in California's Mojave desert. "The Integratron is like a sonic ashram," Hood notes. "It takes the sound and lifts it, and it just sounds amazing and you're elevated by the environment. Every sound on this record is the Hang, every sound on the record was made by my fingers on this metallic drum." Tracklisting: Disc One: 1. Metal Ambulance (12:59), 2. Sonic Ashram (13:03), 3. Faerie God (01:33), 4. Cherry Mandala (16:12), 5. Friendly Alien (09:35), 6. Angelica (11:57). Disc Two: 1. Imaginary Friend (08:08), 2. Sweet Acceptance (16:57), 3. Fey Bedouin (12:42), 4. Biorythmetic (13:27), 5. A Goat Called Lavender (10:48)