Healing energies and mystic overtones unite on Jim Becker’s long player with Lama Lobsang Palden for Drag City

Therapy of any kind thrives on openness and mutual respect between the client and healer. When seasoned Chicago muso Jim Becker met the Buddhist master Lama Lobsang Palden, their first session ended with an agreement to make a record. Becker had actually sought Palden to help cure his various ailments, having lost faith in standard medicine. But such was the duo’s initial rapport over bells, gongs and percussion that events took this unusual turn.

Recording sessions began back in 2013 at Palden’s house, using a Tascam Portastudio. Across a whole year they captured spontaneous chants and found sounds, with Becker tuning his acoustic instruments to different pitches as required. After compiling seven hours of material the music was bounced to ProTools at Becker’s home studio, where he condensed it into a continuous piece. Additional sounds and musicians were drafted in, further expanding the full holistic head trip. It’s the kind of record that crate-diggers dream about; the kind that ends up on Discogs at two hundred quid for a first pressing.

Becker subtly combines an Eastern vibe that marked the 60s counter-culture with a regal purity from Buddhist traditions. Thus, any discerning rock fan listening to Compassion could easily “develop a God muscle” to quote Myron Stolaroff. This makes further sense when you consider Becker’s back catalogue, working with the likes of Iron & Wine, Califone, Bitchin Bajas and the ecstatic folktronica outfit Mind Over Mirrors, of whom he’s a member.

The album’s nine sections merge into a seamless soundtrack of dream-like dimensions. The title piece opens with throaty vocals that seem to bubble up from Palden’s chest and spring forth from his mouth. Voices and rhythms build an urgent summons as singing bowls hum and ting. Soothing sea noises crash onto “Tara” beneath moody waves of Mellotron and Palden’s quietly gargled prayers. “Blessings” has layers of chamber-folk and chorals that grow stealthily like one of Tuluum Shimmering’s epic workouts. Bass-baritone trills on “Healing” leave their own deep vibrations, then “Protection” adds in sighing trumpets, while “Calling the Spirits (Emptiness)” heads into free jazz with darkwave pulses and floaty melodica.

You can almost visualise the mental energy being transmitted here. This is music to magnify the senses and seek that altered state known to seasoned meditators. The chants on “Peace” are guttural, almost Gregorian, whereas “Oneness” is a catchy rustic dance like some old Bartok field recording. “Purification” unfurls a rapid mantra then adds celestial harmonies from the Sharron Kraus school of haunted voices. A final rise and fall of oceanic booms reminds us that unity with nature is a good start to any healing process.

This album is anything but a stylised Buddhism for temple tourists. For sure the message gets revamped through an exchange of artistry, but the essential sacred therapy is untainted. Like balm for a disturbed soul, Compassion is made of clarity, wisdom and kindness.

Lama Lobsang Palden & Jim Becker Bandcamp

Gareth Thompson
Latest posts by Gareth Thompson (see all)