Maja Elliott is a pianist, singer and composer. She has been involved in numerous musical projects and styles, from classic to jazz, from folk to avantgarde. In recent years she often worked with Current 93, with whom she performed at various concerts and releases, most notably “Soft black stars” and ‘Hypnagogue”.
Maja has previously created a cd called “Arabica”, with an eclectic mixcture of Debussy, Coltrane and Irish/Hungarian folk. On “1000 Water Craters on the Sea” she follows an experimental ethereal/ambient approach. For this short cd she worked together with English drone musician Paul Bradley, as well as Aranos and Steve Stapleton. Apparently there is a cd-rom and a cd-r version of this mini cd. While I thought to have obtained the cd-r version, in fact it only contains an almost 12-minute .wav-track playable on my computer.
“1000 Water Craters on the Sea” starts with an ethereal vocal part, in which Maja’s whispery voice has been treated with echo to make it sound even more dreamy and angelic. It trancends into a tranquil, relaxing soundscape with soft drones, some microscopic percussive sounds and a general feeling of floating into a void. Halfway a piano melody takes over to give you a little more solid ground under your feet. Now and then the different layers in the music seem to build to a climax, untill they come to rest again. Towards the end more vocal elements are thrown into the careful composition, which ends in a mysterious manner. An special release which takes you on a magical journey…
