written and recorded during the RPM Challenge 2012 (www.rpmchallenge.com). Thanks for all the love on SoundCloud (www.soundcloud.com)

Upaya's first release, "i come from clouds" garnered praise for its simple melodies and deep atmospheric qualities. The follow up was a joint project with the lamas and nuns of the Drikung Kyobpa Choling, a Tibetan meditation and retreat center in Escondido, California. "Sacred Prayers of Tibetan Lamas" was produced with Upaya's music composed to underscore the chanting of the monastics. Unlike the familiar deep throated chanting on other recordings, these mantras are melodic, mysterious and hypnotic.

"The Remains" shows a progression in Upaya's sonic vocabulary. Once again simple melodies bounce and glide over dense pads and electronic thickets. The title track evokes the quiet almost serene aftermath of a disaster or the discovery of a crime scene. Soft questioning arpeggios drift over a bed of synthesized leaves and earth along with digital birds and insects. There are also bolder pairings of sounds, diverging themes and anthemic crescendos as in "Milarepa and the Storm" a musical rendering of a story about the great Buddhist teacher's moment of doubt, desperation and struggle against the elements and his own self-grasping. "Joyride" is playful and string-laden while "Khuntai" and "Cloud Cities" revisit the same paradoxes that defined "i come from clouds." Deep atmospheres and textures provide the shadow under melodic short runs that draw you in without taking over your space. Weirdness abounds in the closer "What My Phone Thinks of Me" an aural painting of the smart phone's view from the table at the coffee shop.

Relax. Meditate. Live. Enjoy.
~ Upaya