Music-News.com is proud to host the exclusive world premiere of ’Samadhi' by Othon.
’Samadhi’ is the first single taken from the forthcoming Neo Classical / Piano music album ’The God Within’ by OTHON.
“Silence the chatter of the mind, close your eyes and open the eyes of the Soul. Behold the vastness of the cosmic sea. Sail your boat through the life’s waves of joy and suffering. Hold your balance and focus on your true divine nature. Become the Wave Master until the waves stop. Then you will wake up from your dream and melt into Infinity”
With these mystical words, Othon encapsulates the intention behind his much anticipated new album, released digitally and on a limited edition vinyl. Seating somewhere between the post-minimalism of Einaudi, the spacious experimental ambient of Coil and the film music of Yann Tiersen, The God Within is defined by an air of transcendence rather than a sense of belonging. Through the mediums of the piano, sensitive electronic manipulation and sound design, Othon creates an emotionally expansive sound-world that loosely describes the momentous inner journey of the Yogi-Meditator from Pratayahara (withdrawal of the senses) all the way to ‘Samadhi’, the blissful merging with the Absolute and the initiate’s highest goal.
The God Within’s birth came from Othon’s performance at London’s Tate Modern in 2017, in which artist and Turner Prize winner Wolfgang Tillmans featured as his special guest. For this pivotal concert Othon had composed and prepared only half of the material, whereas the rest was “downloaded on the spot in the transcendent state of expanded consciousness”. Similarly, in the album, 6 of the pieces were pre-composed, while the musical bridges in-between them were ‘channeled’ in a state of ecstatic inner absorption. This gives the work a sense of organic continuum and flow that aims to speak directly to the heart, the subconscious and the super-conscious mind.
The God Within includes original artwork by acclaimed British artist Dan Hillier. It is scheduled to be released on 11 of December through Conscious Expansion.
Othon Bio:
A composer, pianist, DJ, producer, party promoter and founder of his new Conscious Expansion record label, Othon is a multifaceted creative and constantly evolving artist.
Born in Athens, Othon trained and performed as a classical pianist receiving several awards and distinctions. Having a somewhat revolutionary and uncompromising personality, he felt increasingly unfitting with the then conservative Athenian music scene and soon emigrated to London to study music at the Royal College of Music and later at Trinity College as a Leverhulme scholar.
In London, Othon became fascinated with the avant-garde and experimental ideas of both art and composition and he was soon working with influential musical artists and bands such as David Tibet/Current 93, Peter Christopherson (co-founder of the industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil), Ernesto Tomasini and Marc Almond with whom he formed a collaborative relationship that lasts to this day. At the same time, he was commissioned work by cutting-edge performance artists such as Ron Athey and Franko B and performed his music in world renown UK venues such as The Roundhouse and the National Portrait Gallery, and toured in Europe.
Being a seeker as much as a musician, Othon travelled to the Brazilian wilderness in 2012, where he participated in a series of mind-altering Ayahuasca ceremonies led by indigenous healers, that were to change his perception of life and relationship to music forever. During these ceremonies he was showed, through sometimes painful moments of inner realisation, that he had to break away from his academic influences and pre-existing subconscious programming and move towards more expansive, spiritual and electronically-infused sound. That led him to an incredible journey of self-discovery and artistic development, collaborating with Amazonian shamans, playing at some of the UK’s leading parties and venues and creating the successful, pivotal and soon to be international event ‘Papa Loko’; a one-of-a-kind gathering that brings cosmic soundscapes and emerging musical talent together with self-expansive spiritual concepts and a meditation group led by Othon.
After a successful crowdfunding campaign and a packed concert at the Tate Modern, where he featured artist and Turner Prize winner Wolfgang Tillmans as his special guest, Othon completed his latest and first truly solo album. ‘The God Within’, which features original artwork by renown British artist Dan Hillier, revisits Othon’s much loved instrument, the piano, albeit form a completely fresh perspective.
Othon is currently working on numerous projects including writing the music for Against Nature, a collaborative show between Marc Almond, poet Jeremy Reed and himself, commissioned by Barbican and to be performed in London and internationally from 2021.
