Nettwerk
Ambient, 1997

Ooh, when I first heard Sarah McLachlan’s vocals on the haunting track Silence early this year, I dashed out to the record store for the album, but alas, no luck. Finally, someone wised up and imported Karma into the record store here, saving me on Amazon shipping fees. But if I have known earlier (or tried the listening booth), I would’ve just bought the CD single instead.

Apart from Silence, everything else here is a clumsily-executed techno/hypno/whatever trance music with tribal chants sampled to give the Enigma/Deep Forest sound. It’s not bad, but it’s also not good because it’s monotonous. The guys of Delerium just couldn’t vary the pace or rhythm, and everything seems like an endless “ay-ay-ay oh-oh mo-mo-mo wa-wa-wa” chant.

I love Silence, which Sarah McLachlan hides no longer her Mother Nature pretenses and just wails like an ethereal banshee in a most haunting, beautiful way. Most of the other tracks, however, is aerobic music – perfect for jumping and stretching and observing the tight buns of the guy in front of you bouncing boing boing boing… ahem, I mean, perfect for fitness fun when the last thing you do is to pay attention to the music.