Innertones is the fifth album of Jim Cole & Spectral Voices’ overtone singing and spans works from 1994-2005.  It contains three Spectral Voices pieces recorded in a vast, reverberant water tower (like on their debut Coalescence and follow up Sky) and 3 more recent group and solo recordings from the Gathering Room.

"...the sound of a very personal gnosis, the kind of spiritual leavening that, once glimpsed into, reveals itself to be deep and vast....These Innertones capture a sense of the eternal, somehow, as only the best of ambient music can. This stolen glimpse into an oceanic landscape, foreign and seductive and familiar, is a place that we will never truly know in its entirety....Luckily, we have these marvelous Spectral Voices to guide us to that place, wherever it may be, and I think you’ll find that these ghostly inner journeys are no less sweet in spite of their tantalizing ephemerality."  

        ~ Brian Bieniowski - Innertones liner notes

Some reviews of Innertones:

Jim Cole's harmonic overtone singing is both sublime and powerful. It is amazing to realize that all the sounds on this CD were created with the human voice. You'd swear you are hearing a full symphony of electronic instruments and choirs, but yet it is indeed the hidden power of this singular voice as revealed by Cole (and on several pieces one or two other singers are joining him). Overtone singing, a vocal technique from Asia, allows one voice to create several sounds simultaneously that blend in very engaging and ethereal ways. Over the course of several albums, Cole has refined his craft into a dynamic and heartfelt musical language all his own. I first head his amazing music on Hearts of Space radio, and was enthralled ever since. Give your ears and soul a real treat and enjoy the blissful soundscapes of Jim Cole and Spectral Voices. It is the sublime soundtrack music of our time, perfect for quiet contemplation, meditation, artistic inspiration, and road trips to the stars.

      ~ Christopher Cameron, former radio host "Music of the Spheres"

Jim Cole + Spectral Voices create intimate Ambient Music by the simplest means. Using only their voices and both natural reverberation and a few electronic effects, this ensemble produces powerful soundscapes drawn from a deep interior silence. The CD Innertones (71'14") compiles six pieces from various points in the evolution of this unique vocal group. Every track has its own character and energy. From joyous and celebratory to minimalistic and ceremonial, Innertones aspires to the highest levels of human expression. The premise of Cole's work comes from the most fundamental of processes, that of breathing. Each singer vocalizes a note in harmony (and in coordination) with their partners in this wondrous sonic experience. Waves of sound resonate beyond the individual parts to create voice-filled ethereal sound structures. Both chilling and glorious, the whistling overtones that characterize this singing style magically materialize in the swirling atmosphere above the sustaining bass and mid-range lines. A fragile apparitional sound, this mystical second tone above the root note comes from just one singer - and provides a deeply profound listening experience. The soft presence of Innertones accesses the innate, yet often untold, gentility of mankind, and speaks of a hope for healing in a world that seems filled with aggression.

                       ~ Chuck van Zyl, STAR'S END

There is music that you listen to, and there is music that you exist within. Innertones, from Jim Cole & Spectral Voices, is an example of the latter—music that peacefully and completely surrounds and envelops you. From the first soft note there is an air of sanctity and sanctuary, and that feeling pervades the entire disk. This is music that takes you, briefly and happily, out of the world. Culled from recordings made between 1994 and 2005, Innertones features Cole and company singing, unaugmented and unaccompanied, in an abandoned, 120-foot-high water tower. Between the pitch-perfect harmonies, the graceful pace of the songs, the intriguing textures of polyphonic singing, and the natural resonance and sustain of the water tower, Innertones develops, across its course, into something akin to a meditative mass for the ambient believers. The sound falls perfectly between hymn and chant. It is uplifting, soothing, and inspiring. Innertones is a superb low-volume experience, the beauty of the pieces quietly filling the space with an inescapable serenity. In headphones, however, the full richness of the sounds truly comes through—deep throat-sung bass rumbles, angelic highs that spiral toward the top of the tower, lingering echoes twisting easily into each other in the air... even the simple drawing of a breath between notes becomes an element in the purity of the flow. While there are six distinct pieces here, Innertones is a singular experience that needs to considered in its peaceful entirety. You simply must come and exist within it, just for a while, to understand how unique and moving it is. Innertones is a Hypnagogue Highly Recommended CD. 

~ John Shanahan, Hypnogogue

...breathtaking in its elegant mystical atmosphere.

                                      ~ Steve Roach

Stunningly beautiful and otherworldly aural nebulae, created almost entirely from human voices, recorded in a huge, empty water tower... create a heavenly chorus of voices, soaring from ecstasy to torment. 

                                          ~ Mike Griffin, Hypnos

Every now and then a little known album will crawl out from underneath more famous artists and scream for attention.  This CD is Coalescence by Jim Cole and Spectral Voices,...amazing improvised compositions by voice alone.   This is one heck of an ethereal album.

~ Allan Bogle (WEVL), "Ambient Spectrum," NAV

...one of the best debut releases of this year.

~ Steve Davis, "Neptune Currents" (KKUP), Associate Producer "Hearts of Space"

Forget everything you have ever thought or heard or read about vocal music.  Jim Cole and Spectral Voices have created something on Coalescence with voices and reverb that transcends the limitations of imagination.  They literally redefine the concept of voice as instrument.

This is music that touches something primal.  I cannot remember being so moved by a recording as I am by this.  It is a singular listening experience and absolutely not to be missed by anyone who sees music (and especially the human voice) as a vehicle for expressing something beyond the here and now.  A truly transcendental experience.

~ Bill Binkelman, Editor/Publisher - Wind and Wire

Jim Cole and Alan Dow...have produced a decidedly original and fascinating album.  Coalescence is unique in both its conception and execution....The outcome is a highly spiritual, mystical ambience;  [it] communicates center and peace when absorbed carefully.  

   ~ Jeff Johansen (WJCU) New Age Voice

Their ambient, spiritual music really sounds as though it came from a wealth of electronic and acoustic instruments.   Highly recommended for those who wish to touch the most mysterious and meditative spaces through music.

              ~ Eric Meece, "Mystic Music" (KKUP)

Prepare to be carried away by reverent, crystal clear harmonic overtones...Transport yourself to a sacred and refreshing place with Coalescence, an album that will touch you deep inside.

                    ~ Forest, "Musical Starstreams"

...one of the best of '98 -- right up there with the Harmonic Choir's Hearing Solar Winds and Dempster/Oliveros' Deep Listening.  
                                                           ~ A Produce

A very original and creative concept.  What an ambient delight!    Coalescence is a thinking person's dream:  intellectual and psychological sustenance.  The world needs soothing, thought-inducing music such as this.

        ~ Brad Torgersen, "Empyrean Radio" (KSVR)

...a powerful composition of voices that leaves me spellbound.

   ~ Jessica Ables, New Age Music Dir. (WFHC)

... has definitely got a mystic quality of its own and takes you to another dimension.

~ Vladimir Jovanovic, "Inner Space" (Croatia)

Coalescence is unique, sublime, extraordinary and beautiful....The angelic, dream-like presence captured by this recording makes listening to Coalescence an experience that relaxes the mind and body, as it feeds the imagination.

~ M. Jeffrey Schmidt, Massage Magazine

Every remarkable sound on the 70+ minute continuous piece is sourced by his voice. Quiet, calming, and meditative; deeply textured and sublime. Achingly poignant....I never dreamed Coalescence would ever be surpassed as this artist's masterstroke, but in my opinion, it just has.

~ Bill Beck, Spacemusic group list

Emotionally charged, meditative and just beautiful. Also the pace of the album is just perfect, moving from dense to open space with just the right amount of beauty, tension and emotion.

~ vidnaObmana

....While each cut on the disc has a separate mood or tone, The Way Beyond must be considered as a massive, undulating, living, breathing ambient zone of stillness and, unusually, simultaneous constant change and transition. While the basis of this recording is layered drones comprised solely from Cole's harmonic singing, these layers are overlapped with constantly changing sonic waves and patterns which create the feeling of watching a rushing brook; all motion and churning fluid on top, but a deep, peaceful stillness beneath.

....At around track nine, for example, the deep tones of Cole's voice expand and contract in an almost psychedelic flux, as if one is buffeted upon solar winds....This is inner space music in the highest sense of the term. Cole's seemingly plaintive cries strike as melancholy in track ten, but they are at the same time hopeful.

....Jim Cole, armed with only looped drones created from his own voice, has somehow unlocked a secret place within just by creating music....This wordless music, without connotation, has the power to unearth nameless spiritual delight within. There is no question--The Way Beyond is holy music, no matter what your persuasion--it is ageless, and always a valid and enriching experience. As with Godspace (and I believe that The Way Beyond surpasses its predecessor in terms of breadth and sonic diversity from the same essential sound sources), I find the music herein to be unquestionably one of the finest ambient/atmospheric releases of 2003. This is the kind of music that reminds of why one became an appreciator of the genre in the first place--it makes you feel good, larger than yourself, and, most of all, connected to the artist and music in some way that is difficult to describe with words that always seem clumsy by comparison. This disc goes “way beyond” Godspace, and that's really saying something. The Way Beyond gets my highest recommendation: it's paradigm shattering work by one of the brightest lights in today's ambient scene.

~Brian Bieniowski, The Ambient Review

...The recording is drenched in reverb, which adds to the sensation of vastness that the listener feels. As the music expands, Cole sustains tones longer and begins to slide around the notes to nice effect. Gradually, as the music continues, Cole takes us to spaces not normally visited by conventional means. He is able to produce fugal or contrapuntal improvisations that sound very modal and harmonious yet completely different from normal western harmony. As a result, the music seems to transport us to a shimmering, yet stable place. Meanwhile, the drones over which he is improvising continue to shift and build, a very orchestral effect. At times they fade or even disappear completely, always to return to great effect.

Like the Tibetan monks, the drones will, on rare occasion here sound as though they are being transmitted from another dimension. There is nothing familiar, including tonal familiarity, in these moments. But they are paced well, and always used in service of the ultimate goal...

The range of technique Cole uses on this release is quite admirable. From deep bass multiphonic drones that appear to go on endlessly, to whistling sounds, to sounds that seem like they are coming from an instrument, to high falsetto, it all springs forth in service of his creation. Improvisation appears to be the basis for many of the pieces, and Cole appears long practiced in this area as well. He can shape the improvisations to become a musical whole. This release is excellent and I recommend it to anyone interested in a deep listening experience that will take them places that I , for one, had never traversed.

~ Mark Morton,  Ambient Visions

Jim employs a stunning array of sounds, such as walls of synthesizers, didgeridoo, flutes, accordion, cello, vocal choirs, and many heavenly sounds the listener has never heard before. The amazing thing is all of these sounds are performed...with only his voice, using reverb and looping, "live on the fly"! He has collaborated and worked with Alpha Wave Movement, Vidna Obmana, Steve Roach, Mathias Grassow and more, plus several solo albums and releases with groups Spectral Voices and Leland Burr. His signature sound uses harmonic overtone singing and subfundamental chant to create a distinctive and spiritual listening experience.

....There are deep drones and soaring, sustained notes that conjure up primal feelings of wonder and awe. Careful listening will reveal fascinating textures in these beatless landscapes.  Tens of thousands of years of metaphysical experience are contained in this timeless work....The performances are spellbinding and the sound quality is excellent. This is music that enriches and replenishes the spirit. A must for any ambient or space music collection, this is a great disc for meditation, contemplation, yoga or inner journeys! Don't miss it. 
                                ~ Dodds Wiley, Ambient.us

Imagine a very beautiful and haunting sound, filled with voices and echoes overlaying and blending, bending, growing and decaying, drifting freely in some inner or outer space, and one might have some insight as to where Godspace and The Way Beyond are musically situated. This is spiritual ambient drone music of the highest order....he is able to create these intensely beautiful and mystifying sonic edifices that are at once hypnotic, soothing and transcendent...
                                       ~ Peter Thelen, Exposé

* "Light Shines in your Heart" is dedicated to my daughter Emily, who at 4 gave me a pendant she made of paper, tiny seashells, sequins, rainbow marker colors and such.  She had sensed I was feeling blue one night before going to a gig, so she handed me her treasure.  I asked her what it was and she replied: "It's a wishing thing...when you wish for things light shines in your heart, so you know I'm with you."  I wore it that night and have worn it many times since.

...Godspace showcases the pure wonder that is born of genius when it's wedded to technical skill of staggering proportion.

...["Astral"] unfolds so gradually in wave after wave of beauty and bliss.  The music is like slowly and effortlessly gliding over a rolling landscape with the glow of soft purple light from a setting sun bathing you and the land below.

...color me impressed, blown-away, and mystified. Highly recommended, obviously!

    ~ Bill Binkelman, Editor/Publisher Wind and Wire

        ...some of the most superlative ambient music I've ever heard. Surely it will rate in my top three best of the year. It is a work of staggering beauty and nuance, at once improvisational and composed.

        This disc has such an emotional and spiritual resonance for me; it is as if Cole had tapped into my biorhythms for 74 minutes, occupying my thoughts, and impregnating all activity around me with meaning where before there seemed to be none.

        This is timeless, important music, and I give it my highest recommendation.

            ~ Brian Bieniowski, The Ambient Review

...Sky is even more ethereal and spiritual than their earlier release, Coalescence..."For The Birds," is fourteen-and-a-half minutes of beautiful soaring vocal bliss....Spacious, floating, and ethereal, the combined human voices seem to stretch out and envelop everything, blanketing it in a layer of billowy softness. The wonder and awe of "Kyrie Eleison," the "I swear this is a synthesizer" effects on "Passion" and the blissful ambient-like "Uplifting" are songs that should send fans of electronic ambient music into a state of rapture....That it's human voices making these celestial sounds never fails to astonish me.  

     ~ Bill Binkelman, Wind & Wire

Lush, diffuse choral strands rise and fall with Kyrie Eleison's continually surging vocal drifts. Ever-expanding layers seem to trace a distant, gently meandering shoreline in human-powered tones that no synthesizer could hope to mimic.

A four-part section, Passion opens with its 10-minute title piece wherein those slightly monk-like vocal chords wash back and forth as if floating on slow-motion waves, and when everything recedes, the loveliness only becomes stronger. The breathy currents of closing track Know Way (Way) (4:10) are highlighted by the ringing harmonics which dance above all like an aural aurora.

~David Opdyke, Ambientrance

... a sound extreme in both beauty and emotional character....Sky will have the listener returning many times, attempting to both re-enter the zone this music puts one in and quantify an immeasurable factor that borders on the mystical.

                  ~ Chuck van Zyl, STAR'S END