Oak and Pink Desert essentially function as two sides of the same coin; each unit entices the listener with colorful waves of sound and deliver with eloquent placement and grace. The two groups are no strangers to one another having shared sides on a four way split released by Peasant Magik and ideally we’ll see them sharing space again.

Oak’s “Thunder Bliss” is a beautiful sonic landscape filled with buzzing tamburas, hammered dulcimer, tinkling bells, wordless vocals and hypnotic bass that will have the most stoic of listeners floating about their environment the moment the wheels start spinning. The piece initially meanders in a beautiful array of colorful washes that if drawn out too long could simply wrap itself into an overly pretty bow. Fortunately Oak direct their sounds away from the simple ear candy domain and into a state of purpose with the introduction of an upright bass. The instrument is so poignantly placed and utterly hypnotic in its phrasing that it manages to both ground the work and to pull the listener deeper into the miasma.

Pink Desert’s “Last Waves” remains in the meditative vein but the mood shifts towards darkness. The piece is centered on the mournful incantations of some wayward soul. The voice is accompanied by peripheral washes of cymbals, gentle drum patterns and an unidentifiable drone. There is a rather distant feel to the whole experience as sounds begin small and slowly blossom into being filling the entire cavernous space with their vibrations before dissipating as the next wave approaches its own climax. Soon you’ll find yourself nodding with the ebb and flow of these eternal waves, hoping that they’ll never dissapate.

To put it bluntly these works are utterly mesmerizing. Let’s hope for a collaborative effort. 9/10 -- Cory Card (18 March, 2009)