The search for the spirit is a quest for total harmony
You may notice that the titles of the tracks have an Egyptian slant, but trust me, this is purely a personal choice and the music suits the practice of Yoga very well, as well as many other situations. I am very pleased with this album, and every listen still brings a spiritual calm. If you are still reading, the story of the album follows.

The idea for this album came about in early 1995 when, during a Reiki session with our Reiki master, all round Guru and close friend Paul Weston, my partner Tish entered a trance state in which she experienced a vast amount of Egyptian imagery and came out of the trance speaking the name of what she believed was an ancient, pre-dynastic Egyptian Goddess, Natch-Ura! Subsequent research established only one mention of this Goddess, this was in a book on ancient Egyptian religion written by Lewis Spence and published in the early part of the last century, a book Tish had never come across before! In this book Mr Spence informs us that Natch-ura was regarded in the north of Egypt as the female companion of Hapi, the God of the annual Nile inundation. Tish felt that there was more to it than this and the search continued. As part of this search Tish asked me to compose a piece of music based on Natch-ura for use in meditation. I duly descended into my basement studio and returned a couple of hours later suitable spaced out and with the required music in hand; music that seemed to be beyond space and time and yet recorded within the Great Pyramid, or some long forgotten underground chamber. I knew then that I needed to complete an album based around this piece of music that would contain the same vibrations and feelings that I myself had felt that night. However this was not to take place for another four years despite me constantly talking about it!

In 1999 the moment seemed right to start recording. I had known that I wanted a live flute player on the album, as opposed to the synthesised flutes of the original piece, and that cosmic vocals needed to weave in and out of the music. I had already been introduced to a wonderful flutist, Paul Cheneour, and we had talked about working together for quite a few months prior to this album. We both share the same views about music and composition, especially the spiritual aspects, and so it seemed fitting that this was the first proper album that we worked on together.

In August 1999 Paul and I got together to record the music. I knew everything was going to flow really well, and I was not wrong. We entered the studio and reappeared over 6 very inspirational hours later with all the music complete! We had managed to capture the original intent and feeling that I first experienced 4 years earlier. I am sure that in our minds we had been transported to that same space I was in when completing the original Natch-ura track. All that was left was to record the vocals.

I had worked with two sisters, Lisa and Kerry on an album some ten years earlier and knew instinctively that they would be the ideal vocalists to use. The problem being that we had lost touch over 7 years earlier! However, whilst attending the Isis Convention in London in late 1999 I went to buy a cup of tea and who should serve me but Lisa!

And so in March this year Lisa came down to my studio and within a few hours, in candlelight and surrounded by incense, produced vocals that still send shivers down my spine.

Not being a writer I find it hard to get across the feelings that I have about this music, but something that was written by my friend Paul Weston for one of my earlier albums accurately conveys the intention that both Paul and I had whilst composing this music, and our hopes for what it may bring to its listeners:

"The search for the spirit is a quest for total harmony in all aspects of life. It can begin in the physical with the sense of well being that the act of true meditation brings. It may develop a calm contemplative state of mind through which a reverie of a deeper dream emerges. With this comes the feeling of something greater pervading and inspiring all, a unity out of which it all arises, the Tao, the great goddess, spirit. Whatever your purpose come in at any place and combine as you will your own dreams and rituals, reveries and meditations, movements and stillness. Find through the music the space where your seeking is at an end.

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