"The Yoga Sessions"  If, like me, you’ve don’t practice yoga and haven’t yet been “enlightened up”, a full length recording called “The Yoga Sessions” might sound about as appealing as a CD called “The Meat Sessions” would for a vegan. And if all of those schmaltzy new age CDs you associate with yoga also have been etched on your brain you would be forgiven for any initial resistance to Earthrise Sound System. So OK, we’re not the target market here but beyond the yoga association this is a divinely conceived project that one could enjoy while doing any number of things other than yoga. Earthrise Sound System are two accomplished musicians -- Derek Beres and master percussionist David “Duke Mushroom” Schommer. Their creation is a sublime and soothing blend of vocals, organic acoustics and rhythm suitable for relaxation, contemplation and whatever happens in your bedroom. Guest vocalists and musicians play a big part of “The Yoga Sessions”: France’s Morley adding her earthy and mellifluous voice to two of the CDs more soothing songs (accompanied by cellist Dave Eggar); Lucy Woodward sings a mantra to a new day on ‘Daylight as Sunset’ (chanting the concept of reincarnation in the Bhagavad Gita “only at the end is where we begin”); Morocco's Hamid Boudali provides his Arabic vocals backed by lush instrumentation on the Gnawa-inspired ‘Makyen Ghrir Allah’ and Eccodek adds flute, xaphoon and electric guitar to ‘Sombience’. This is forward thinking yet organically formed music: a percussively and melodically rich multi-ethnic soundscape (thankfully they didn't go so far as a Celtic song). Earthrise Sound System have created a recording worthy of the yoga mat, the lounge or whatever zenful place your heart desires: I'll take a tropical beach and a sunset (there are two feet of snow on the ground, as I look out the window). - by J.C. Tripp