Om, Sir Richard Bishop

[AGONY AND ECSTASY] The sound of Om’s music has been slowly moving closer to the idea wrapped up in the group’s chosen name. Band leader Al Cisneros has been reaching for exalted heights with his work for the band since starting the project in 2003, but it comes out even clearer on the group’s most recent album, Advaitic Songs. Released in 2012, the disc strips away the trudge of its early doom-metal experiments to concentrate on ecstatic drones, haunting Hindi vocals and minimalist percussion by Portland’s Emil Amos.