White Winds

The early albums by Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider were some of the strongest in the then-developing New Age genre. WHITE WINDS (SEEKER'S JOURNEY), from 1985, helped crystallize Vollenweider's aesthetic, combining his penchant for jazz, ambience, rhythmic accents, and smatterings of world music fusion. Whether on the drifting, atmospheric strains of the title track, or the light, jazzy sway of "The Woman and the Stone," Vollenweider displays a taste for rich textures.

Vollenweider's electrified harp is the chief instrument on the album, and he manages to blend the instrument's lush, classical sound with unusual rhythmic effects and uncharacteristic tones (he even gets staccato, guitar-like syncopations in "Flight Feet & Root Hands"). Synthesizer and auxiliary percussion augment the artist's harp work, and the result is an album that soothes and intoxicates, but yet still retains an experimental flair.