Artist: Praful
Album: Pyramid In Your Backyard
Label: N-Coded Music
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Web: http://www.praful.nl/
Praful’s follow up to the critically acclaimed One Day Deep (2003) was just released in May on N-Coded Music. The album, "Pyramid In Your Backyard", was so titled as a way to express the spiritual contained in everyday life. Praful’s music is representative of this idea. Those who enjoy smooth jazz or downtempo electronica can enjoy his music as a mood setter. Meant to fill the background with pleasant color. However, those who listen a bit more may hear a man who let’s the music channel through him as a spiritual entity in and of itself.
Praful the man comes off as a new world love child. He is a backpacking urbanite, the kind of guy who you’ll find munching organic granola in hip urban centers. Cut from the same mold as Moby would be an easy way to put it, but in my book Praful is first and foremost an incredible sax player, as you will hear on this new release. He appeals to me the most when he is caught up with this instrument he knows best. The electronic elements and song structures help create a near-prefect chillout soundtrack that even the most diehard Morcheeba fans can get into, but Praful successfully mixes in jazz and world music elements in a way that is seamless and almost without error. “Pyramid In Your Backyard” features fantastic vocalists from around the world with songs that are sung in Portuguese, Hindi and English. The only uninspired voice here is Praful himself, who thankfully sings on only one track entitled “Naked”. He would do better to stick completely with guest vocalists and concentrate on what he does best, composing, playing and recording.
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