by Stacia ProefrockWest Coast-based ensemble Troika have been fusing synthesizer-generated textures with ambient vocals for several years, issuing their first album, Goddess, on the Narada label in 1996. Featuring the work of composer David Arkenstone, that album and those that would follow over the next few years explored elements of world music within the gentle rhythms of new age music. Dream Palace, which was issued the following year, put a stronger emphasis on vocals, while Faeries, which was issued in 1999, ventured out even further into new cultural sources for their unique sound. In 2000, they issued their fourth album, Shaman, which, like its predecessors, again featured the work of Arkenstone.