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On Supreme Beings of Leisure's third CD entitled 11i, Los Angeles-based collaborators Ramin Sakurai & Geri Soriano-Lightwood have continued to shape the Electronica landscape by providing new listeners as well as their faithful followers with an opus of 'supremely' relaxing, lush, and easy on the ears tunes covering nearly 53 minutes. I liked the fact that the overall feel had a very film noir-ish sound and feel with just Geri Soriano's vocals alone, but several songs veered towards sounding a bit on the repetitive side from time to time.


Overall, though, I was formidably happy replaying more than a handful (technically six fingers worth, seven tops) of the album's songs.

Elements of Dub, Electro, Drum & Bass, and certainly Lounge are all quite apparent on this mostly captivating CD that provides a full-on look into what and how a well-crafted artist's album should sound like versus multiple tracks being produced in a rushed manner and thus assimilated for the sake of adding an album to an artist's repertoire. But in the time that SBOL have been on hiatus (some five years), they've had the chance to hone in on their fan base as well as inviting new fans to enjoy their hypnotic and seductive sound.

I could very well provide too many metaphors and/or adjectives to describe SBOL's sound but if you're into Chill-Out and Lounge then this CD will satiate you. I know that it has for me because I play many tracks when I DJ in the wine bar of my residency in Westchester, New York.

Interestingly, the current duo of singer and songwriter Geri Soriano-Lightwood and instrumentalist and programmer Ramin Sakura was originally comprised of four group members back in 1996 when they called themselves Oversoul 7, and Kiran Shahani on bass and Rick Torres on guitar were part of the group.

The foursome then split up after producing their debut album in 2000 and long story short, in 2004, Rick Torres teamed up with Ramin to produce a compilation called LAZY, Kiran Shahani collaborated with Shana Halligan to form the underrated down-Tempo group Bitter:Sweet (in 2006), and Geri and Ramin are kicking it with the success of this album, 11i.

Stand-out tracks…

Track 1 – "This Light" (purchase/download) With an intro featuring a snippet of Drum & Bass, this track is a testament that Lounge is certainly not dead; the introduction of Geri Soriano's satiny voice comes through a backing instrumental that's refreshing.

Track 3 – "Mirror" (purchase/download) Starts off wonderfully dark, sleek and sexy then morphs into a drum and snare power house that still maintains its Lounge-y roots.

Track 7 – "Angelhead" ft. Lili Haydn: I was happy to hear a guest vocalist who participated with Gabriel & Dresden on their "Bloom" CD offered on this track. It's an interesting Downtempo track that showcases Ramin Sakurai's multi-talented instrumentation.

Track 8 – "Ride" (purchase/download) One of my favorites, this excellent slow-to-rise, slow-to-groove tunes.

Track 9 – "Oneness" ft. Marty Friedman: Marty Friedman was part of the Heavy Metal group Megadeth, and although you wouldn't be able to discern his guitar playing from, say, Slash, this track reminded me of the way Porcupine Tree went from producing elegant relaxing Ambient to elegant Rock. Perhaps a sign of things to come for SBOL? –Then again, probably not.

Track 10 – "Everywhere": Just listen to even the measly snippet of it via iTunes; a slow crooner that simmers over an equally defining light rock sound.

Released February 12, 2008 on Rykodisc.