Have you seen those Corona commercials where the couple’s chilling on a Cancun beach, with only the sound of the lapping waves, the gentle ocean breezes, and the glow of sun-kissed bodies? Dolphins into the Future is almost like that…turn a holiday reality into a New Age fantasy and sprinkle in some tribal flavor and you’ve pretty much got it. The opening track is a killer half hour of marine life sonar, aquatic swirls and drips, and warming drones. It’s like a surreal scuba. Definitely worth the 30 minutes! The next nine tracks are a variety of lengths, as long as just over eleven minutes to as short as twenty-nine seconds. I think the longer tracks stand out from the shorter and quieter interludes. It’s a weightless journey to distant worlds and foreign dimensions. There’s just something so familiar yet so unreachably peaceful about this album. It’s an indescribably blissful experience. Pure splendor. “The Music of Belief” gives us something to believe in. In the midst of a world that can so often be ugly with regrets, nasty cards that are dealt, and a cramping feeling of despair, we here have a transcendent beauty that offers hope that there really is something lovely and worthwhile out there. I believe the label gives an honest description: “The Voice of Incorporeality: one long piece based on the radiating work ‘The Voice of the Silence’ by H.P. Blavatsky. Observations Through the Halocline of the Worlds: a companion to the 7 stanzas of Dzyan via shorter segments. Music made to awake the listener’s inner-seeing or God-vision.”

The press release from RTB also says, “We celebrate the death of the compact disc with the last cd-release ever on RTB.” This brings a tear to my eye. I know many of you no longer regard the CD as anything novel or collectible. Your shelves are probably overflowing with cassettes and records. Or, perhaps you’re a fan of this digital age, and your itunes are brimming with files. Well, I’m a CD guy. I love CD’s. I grew up with them and still think they’re one of the most accessible and convenient formats. And all the DIY creativity out there has shown us quite a bit of talent and TLC as far as packaging and artwork can be concerned. So, with tears welling up for the future absence of CD formats offered, I can still manage a smile. I can smile because at least the label decided to finish up their CD catalog with a bang. Dolphins into the Future’s “The Music of Belief” is certainly an album worthy to commemorate the occasion. Its album art of blinding white light emitted from a lotus blossom in our attempt to capture its unique magnificence sets the stage both for a glorious album and serves as a monument to the end of an age. Dolphins into the Future = Hope for the Future. 9/10 -- Dave Miller (24 March, 2010)