A Warrior's Journey

Not to be confused with the art rock band formed by Peter Blegvad collaborator Lisa Herman, this Longhouse is a Canadian new age collective that mixes traditional Native American music with Enya-style ambient pop atmospherics. Unlike many similar records, A Warrior's Journey works musically because the two aspects of the band's sound aren't randomly forced together in the manner of all those faceless records that take a field recording of a powwow and awkwardly retrofit boring dance beats behind it. The soaring opener, "Voices of the Dawn," is through-composed with an interesting pop tune that fits smoothly with the traditional vocal melodies; it's a genuinely catchy and musically interesting tune, as are most of those that follow. Naturally, fans of traditional Native American music may well find A Warrior's Journey to be unpleasantly watered down, with its ample use of synthesizers and drum machines alongside the flutes, reeds, percussion, and voices. However, ambient pop fans who are interested in, for example, trumpeter Jon Hassell's Brian Eno-endorsed ethnomusicological explorations might find A Warrior's Journey of interest.