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I must admit this was a bit of a breath of fresh air when it landed at psyreviews HQ recently. Well, when was the last time you heard a piece of quality psychedelic ambient from India? With a cover featuring a bloke meditating? With the Swami Muktananda quote “the knowledge of his own true nature is the source of a yogi’s contentment” on the inside? With a 14-page booklet featuring stunning photography of the Indian landscape, the penultimate page of which reads “Save the Indian Tiger”?

This, folks, it what it’s all about. It makes me with I still had my old Tip hoodie, had access to my old CD’s, had an incense holder and possibly a little spiral to dangle from the ceiling as I spent time with my crystals. The point I’m trying to get across, ladies and gentlemen, is that this is a sheer delight of an album. It’s shanti, sure – but shanti in a defiant way. Reclaiming chill, if you like.

Largely beatless, the emphasis is on a pensive relaxation of the sounds, then the mind. Organic, “real” instruments come into play – flute, sarangi, santoor, sitar and vocals – and add an extra dimension to the synths and sequencers. But the real draw here is that Sattyananda – credited as Nikhel Kumar Mahajan, a mishmash of names and cultures if ever there was one – is a chap who genuinely believes in something.

He’s travelled, spent time in India, and found something. Something that those old travellers of trance found; something a million lightyears away from Skazi and Infected. What’s more, that belief and sense of wonder has been perfectly captured in the music, and it gets perfectly reproduced in your presence when you play it – and as such, Internal Activities isn’t a piece of music so muchn as a piece of art.

And no, I’m not stoned.

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