UNSIGNED

Mar 1, 2001 12:00 PM, By Chris Gill

One would think that with all the naked people, debauchery, and whacked-out contraptions at Burning Man, few people there would notice a group of musicians in their midst. But when Lost at Last played on the main stage at the notorious festival in 1998, their reputation shot upward like the flames that ignite the event's namesake icon. With an entrancing combination of ethnic and electronic sounds, visual splendor, and spiritual energy, the band manages to captivate audiences regardless of the venue.

Lost at Last came together in 1996 in Maui, when string player Deva Priyo and vocalist Jaya Lakshmi approached keyboardist Om to record songs in his studio. The three discovered they shared a common bond and started playing local shows together in front of audiences that grew bigger each time they performed. Spreading their wings, they started doing shows in Northern California, where they built a dedicated following playing private parties, concerts, and raves. “We get an interesting mix of different subcultures at our shows,” says Om, “young ravers, hippies, middle-aged new-agers, and elderly people, all having a great time.”

Part of the reason Lost at Last attracts such a diverse group of fans is that their music encompasses many styles and dimensions. “Our music is the meeting of ancient and future, digital and organic, and East and West,” says Om. “It is hard to categorize, but we call it something like ethno-techno-trance-chants music. It bridges the gap between many different cultures and worlds.”

Although Lost at Last's songs possess a hypnotic feel similar to that of most modern electronic dance music, their music leaves a lot of room for live improvisation. To maintain that freedom, Om employs a Mac G3 loaded with Emagic's Logic Audio, using the software's touch-tracks feature to assign sequences to keys on a keyboard controller. Om uses a second keyboard controller to play sounds, samples, and loops from his E-mu EIV, Kurzweil K2000, Roland JV-1080, and Nord Lead. This setup frees Om to weave mesmerizing patterns and sophisticated riffs around Priyo's sarod, berimbau, and sitar lines and the driving rhythms of percussionists Daniel Paul, Noah Mosgofian, and Bene on tablas, djembe, congas, and timbales, as well as on electronic drum pads.

“Our music is aimed at vibrating and awakening all the energy centers of the body simultaneously,” says Om. “We want to spread a message of love, celebration, joy, peace, healing, and spiritual awakening to the planet at this critical time. People are continually telling us how uplifted they feel after one of our shows, and this encourages us to keep on going. This is what it's really about.” Lost at Last has released one independent album and a DAM CD available from MP3.com. As this article went to press, they had just signed a deal with RCA Records. For more information, contact Lost at Last; Web www.lostatlast.com.

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