Tales of the Inexpressible is Shpongle

Shpongle

Shpongle is an English psychedelic downtempo/psybient music project formed in 1996. The group includes Simon Posford and Raja Ram . Their musical style combines eastern ethnic instruments and vocals with contemporary western synthesizer-based psychedelic music...

's second album, released in 2001. Simon Posford and Raja Ram hone and expand the style introduced on their debut album, Are You Shpongled?

Are You Shpongled?

Are You Shpongled? is the first of four albums released by Shpongle. This album set the standard for psychedelic downtempo music worldwide, and created a revolution between psychedelic trance and ambient soundscapes.-Track listing:...

. Raja Ram plays Spanish and East Asian instruments along with the flute, and Simon Posford plays classical guitar

Classical guitar

The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...

 as well as synthesizing and sampling.

The song "Room 23" appears on the back cover of the album with the name "Room 2ॐ", the character "ॐ" being the Om

Aum

Om or Aum Om or Aum Om or Aum (also , written in Devanāgari as and as , in Sanskrit known as (lit. "to sound out loudly"), ', or ' (also as ') (lit. "Auṃ form/syllable"), is a sacred/mystical syllable in the Dharmic or Indian religions, i.e...

, the sacred eternal sound in Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

.

Track listing

1. "Dorset Perception" – 8:12
2. "Star Shpongled Banner" – 8:23
3. "A New Way to Say Hooray!" – 8:32
4. "Room 2ॐ" – 5:05
5. "My Head Feels Like a Frisbee" – 8:52
6. "Shpongleyes" – 8:56
7. "Once Upon the Sea of Blissful Awareness" – 7:30
8. "Around the World in a Tea Daze" – 11:21
9. "Flute Fruit" – 2:09

Credits

• Raja Ram: flute, vocals
• Simon Posford: programming, guitar, synths, semi-acoustic bass
• Michele Adamson: vocals, backing vocals
• Abigail Gorton: vocals
• Harry Escot: cello, acoustic bass
• Pete Callard: acoustic guitar

Samples and allusions

• The name of the song Dorset Perception alludes to Aldous Huxley
  Aldous Huxley
  Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
  
  's book The Doors of Perception
  The Doors of Perception
  The Doors of Perception is a 1954 book by Aldous Huxley detailing his experiences when taking mescaline. The book takes the form of Huxley’s recollection of a mescaline trip which took place over the course of an afternoon, and takes its title from William Blake's poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell...
  
  . Dorset
  Dorset
  Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
  
   is the location of Posford's studio, the Hallucinogen Sound Labs.
• The Shpongle song A New Way to Say Hooray! contains a sample of a lecture by Terence McKenna
  Terence McKenna
  Terence Kemp McKenna was an Irish-American philosopher, psychonaut, researcher, teacher, lecturer and writer on many subjects, such as human consciousness, language, psychedelic drugs, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and end of the universe, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings.-Early...
  
  , in which he references the Pink Floyd
  Pink Floyd
  Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
  
   song The Gnome (from the 1967 The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
  The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
  The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut album by the English rock group Pink Floyd, and the only one made under founding member Syd Barrett's leadership. The album contains whimsical lyrics about space, scarecrows, gnomes, bicycles and fairy tales, along with psychedelic instrumental songs...
  
  album). The gnomes are actually creatures which Terence describes meeting over and over on many of his DMT
  Dimethyltryptamine
  N,N-Dimethyltryptamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound of the tryptamine family. DMT is found in several plants, and also in trace amounts in humans and other mammals, where it is originally derived from the essential amino acid tryptophan, and ultimately produced by the enzyme INMT...
  
   related trance experiences.
• A New Way to Say Hooray! contains vocal and choir samples from the sample CD "Heart of Africa Volume 2" by Spectrasonics
  Spectrasonics
  Spectrasonics is a music software company based in California, United States. Founded in 1994, the company originally produced sample libraries and then became one of the first companies to create software instruments in 2002 Their flagship product is Omnisphere, an extensive software synthesizer...
  
  .
• The sample: "This is, er, no offense but you are a robot, aren't you?" used in Shpongleyes is taken from the classic science fiction movie Forbidden Planet
  Forbidden Planet
  Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain...
  
  .
• The dinosaur sounds sample sounds heard in Shpongleyes are taken from the film Jurassic Park: The Lost World
  The Lost World: Jurassic Park
  The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a 1997 science fiction thriller film, directed by Steven Spielberg. The film was produced by Bonnie Curtis, Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen and Colin Wilson...
  
  .
• The male vocals on Around the World in a Tea Daze after 6:45 are a sample from a famous Turkish song titled Dönülmez Akşamın Ufkundayız. The lyrics are originally from a poem by Yahya Kemal Beyatlı
  Yahya Kemal Beyatli
  Yahya Kemal Beyatlı , born Ahmed Agâh, was a leading Turkish poet and author, as well as a politician.-Biography:...
  
  . The sample is taken from the sample CD "Voices Of Istanbul" by Q Up Arts.
• Towards the end of the track My Head Feels like a Frisbee a sample of Ella Fitzgerald
  Ella Fitzgerald
  Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
  
  singing How High the Moon can be heard. The sample is sped up.