Similarly adventurous is the Shruti Project (Ambiances Magnétiques AM 173 CD — ★★★★) which combines the efforts of two Canadians: Indian-born Ganesh Anadan and John Gzowski. Anadan studied the Karnatic music of Southern India, explored Cuban and Brazilian rhythms, and played in Gamelan ensembles. He’s also studied a number of instruments of other ethnic origins, such as the Celtic bodhrán. For over a decade, he has devoted himself to combining his varied influences into a personal style. Gzowski, for his part, is a composer and multi-instrumentalist (guitar and oud primarly) who enjoys making his own instruments and experimenting with non-standard tunings. It is this last concept which united the two to explore the Indian 22-toned Shruti scale on hybrid instruments of their devising. The effect is an intriguing 75-minute exploration of strikingly fresh sounds, with textures and microtonal melodies played on a “19-tone guitar”, a 12-string Shruti Stick and a variety of percussion intruments.