Nominally, The Microcosm is a European sequel to I Am the Center: Private Issue New Age Music in America, 1950-1990, a heavyweight compilation of American new age music curated by Douglas Mcgowan of the California-based Yoga Records and released on Light in the Attic in 2013. But it’s not quite that simple. In ’70s America, cassettes by artists like Steve Halpern and Iasos became surprise best sellers, and new age became an industry, with a mail order network, its own chart—even, from 1987 onward, its own Grammy Award. But while this sort of music—mellow, instrumental, technologically savvy and concerned with matters of the spirit—certainly existed in Europe, it defied such easy categorization. In The Microcosm’s liner notes, McGowan explains how more than one artist featured refused to be involved if the project carried the “new age” tag. Instead, the collection is subtitled Visionary Music Of Continental Europe, and if that sounds vague, McGowan has set himself the task to prove otherwise, drawing lines between disparate musicians who share a belief in something greater, but are resolutely off on their own trip.