The carefully designed mystery of Sa Dingding's "Alive" is literally impenetrable in spots. Even the multi-linguists who speak three of the languages she uses on the release (Chinese, Tibetan and Sanskrit) won't understand the tracks "Oldster by the Xilin River" and "Lagu Lagu" because Dingding is using a language of her own creation.

Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard has been famously successful at making up words for songs, and it also works for Dingding within the rewarding blend of organic world music and machine-made mysticism.

"Alive," like the singer herself, is a composite of various cultures in China. Heavy, resonant drumming and electronic rhythms polish up the atmosphere of indigenous instruments to something akin to '90s acts Enigma and Deep Forest -- and Dingding's little-girl voice even sounds somewhat like the vocal on Deep Forest's hit "Sweet Lullaby."

Some might prefer a more authentic experience than this, especially when the proceedings take a corny, synthetic turn such as the moment the ballad "Tuo Luo Ni" blows up into an unseemly dance track.

Still, the album's overall effect is mesmerizing, with Dingding's voice seducing in the lounge-ish vibe of "Flickering With Blossoms," dovetailing into a soothing tandem with vocalist Huo Yonggang on a Tibetan version of "Holy Incense" and expressively driving the cinematic changes of "Mama Tian Na."

And you don't have to understand a single word to feel the otherworldly power.

Rating (5 possible): 4

-by Chuck Campbell