Label: Interchill Records
Released: 2002

01. Skyblue
02. Yu
03. Opal
04. Daisy
05. Cyandragonfly
06. Bhakti
07. Arc

"Orchid" is a symphony of excellently arranged ambient music. Responsible for this album is Brittish virtuoso Matt Hillier, and this is still his only CD released as his main project Ishq. Discussed CD was released in 2002 by Canadian Interchill Records. (Besides this release we have also limited two-discs edition released by Japanese Dakini Records).

This album - set of seven tracks in which we have beautiful pads and amorphous voices/vocals that are forming unforgettable views in front of us - is well thought out in every dimension. It's very easy to enter the begginning phase of this CD, but then, over the course of time, we go more deeply into this world - and we don't want to leave it, because everything begin to focus on notes of a pure ambient ecstasy and our mind enter the phase of idyllic calmness. We take every sound into consideration, because every one of them is now for us even like an interjection. These sounds are sophisticated - they are more and more subtle and more difficult to define from the objective side. In the end this epic picture is crystallizing into the world of minimal notes and then description of the rainbow of the sounds that are going to our ears is extremely difficult to describe in linguistic expression. But for sure I can materialize within the words just a bit of the visions created by Hillier.

"Orchid" contain diverse compositions that all reflect important essence of the whole: the nature. Every another track is a phase of evolution of this sound, and is going into more and more multidimensional world. "Skyblue" is an air, a space, a levitation among fluffy clouds. "Yu" is an earth, a unity of instrumental and ambient music. "Opal" is a water, a darkness, a diving in neighbourhood of anxiety. "Daisy" is a peeping through magic world of a virgin lake. "Cyandragonfly" is an exploration of psychedelic arcadia. "Bhakti" is a smile of the sun that is see from the underwater eyes. "Arc" is the tears of the nature's happiness, goodbye against a background of overwhelming greenery...

Matt Hillier is The God who's "Orchid" is a journey in the celestial world of the ambient's beauty. Charming, fascinating album.