Kurosh makes the listener work for it but its well worth the effort Think the track title and drift away if you like Eno's Apollo and wonder how to improve on it listen to this. If your on Second Life go to the Sky Castle while ts empty sit in a comfy chair and turn the sun to midnight and look at the stars while Ontogeny takes you there.....:-))))

Great Concert I really enjoyed both your music and the venue Personally I found it as good as RL when It was darkened to midnight and with my stereo tuned in to the stream Thanks a lot Will buy the CDs Shortly Glenn Ladkin (rl) aka Glenn Vanelten (SL)

Spare without being empty, electronic without being cold, this is an excellent collection of ambient music by Kourosh Dini. Its 15 songs look at the human life cycle from conception to death. This is the perfect CD to put on late at night while relaxing and contemplating after a long day. The songs, and the album, progress and evolve and unfold gradually in sweeping and expansive tones reminiscent of Brian Eno's best work.

The album brilliantly creates mood, utilizing one synthesizer to create motifs that exist as definitions of a point in life, or a song cycle that marks the highlights of a life well lived. Ontogeny is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as the origin and development of an individual organism from embryo to adult. This is the guiding idea that connects Dini’s pieces on the album. The release begins with the oscillating “Nova/Conception”, which acts as a series of jagged chords that eventually return to a cogent tonic. The following two tracks build upon the moments before birth with “Tether” offering a haunted melodic development, and “Gestation” consisting of sparse, proto-harmonies. “The Quickening” emerges from a shroud of silence into a repeated, improvised riff that clocks in (as do all songs on the album) at under three minutes. It represents the recognition of a baby’s movement in the womb, known as the quickening. “Moments of Birth” enters the world quietly, as “Post-Partum” sinks into oblivion (or a new sense of enlightenment). “Awake” begins the lifetime cycle of discovery of self and surroundings that is followed by “Play and Order” (which brings harmonic support back to the compositions’ base), “Identity”, “Spirit” and “Family and Ancestry”. The high point of the cycle comes in the transition between the lush accouterments that make up “Intimacy” and the stark contrast of the following “Loss”, which disintegrates into a drone, followed by the silence of resignation. You can feel the connection of intimacy, and the following emptiness in loss. The album finishes in a contemplative fashion that tapers into a peaceful acquiescence into death. This ambient song cycle is a gorgeous soundtrack for philosophical contemplation, a great backdrop for generating conversation and a must listen for fans of music that makes you dig a little deeper to appreciate the beauty contained within.