MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

The mood is generally a serious one - expansive, haunting or shimmering and lustrous. There is plenty of darkness and mystery creating a sense of menace or unease in places, however, the gloom is often shot through with beautiful shafts of light and colour. The mood and pace does alter throughout the album constantly though - as tracks with drum loops and bubbling synth patterns rise and fall away into zones of deep ambience.

Subsonic Experience are Bernhard Wöstheinrich and Thorsten Niestrath who met up in Germany as design students. Working together on various projects including film, performance art and painting, the duo also formed Subsonic Experience in the early nineties. Getting together for a recording session in 2000 the basis for Präposition was laid with Thorsten contributing synth organ leads and textures and Bernhard focussing on sequencers. Later edited and mixed by Ian Boddy the CD was finally mastered by Eroc.

MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

Melodic, electronic new-age instrumental themes. The tracks on Lifegiving are mainly synthesizer soundscapes overlaid with emotionally inspired lead lines. Restful downtempo beats and gentle basses carry the various smooth layers and washes along whilst piano, violin, guitar or flute voices weave comfortable melodies in the foreground. Drum loops feature plenty of reverb and those muted snares and sonorous toms that suit this sort of music so well. There are classical and orchestral moments that add to the dignity of Australis' sound and frequent low-key interludes where percussion vaporises and melody becomes increasingly gentle and intimate.

The ten 'themes' on Livegiving are of a consistent nature, with soft, subtle electronic arrangements, harmonic lines with wistful tone and tranquil pace - nothing here is too heavy, nothing too sober. Oscar says of himself: "Being born in a land of ancient cultures where millenary traditions are present everywhere and thousands of years of emotions are part of daily life; the sensibility of his parents ensured there were always musical instruments within his reach. And their wisdom provided enough space for him to explore creativity from his own evolving perceptions." Apparently he composed his first formal pieces at the age of twelve.

MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

Ethno-ambience and expansive electronica. Cell has produced here a deep rich synthetic/acoustic mix that melds such diverse elements as finger cymbals, Indian female vocals, global percussion, careful arpeggios and downtempo beats with masterful artistry. Dillrabar, sitar shenai and other emotive sounds from 'Deepest India' are employed in perfect balance with programmed structures and patterns familiar to the trance scene. The album opens with some moody abstract floatation where percussive loops flutter in and distant voices drift on the breeze, thereafter most pieces are laidback with the same balance of traditional samples and modern technology.

Phonic Peace is exhibited in a warm digipak lit with soft shades of tangerine and orange. An incense stick sends a curl of smoke over a backdrop of archaic scripture setting the tone for the musical content within. Inside we have another swirl of scented smoke, a track listing and various credits and thanks. A row of small photo-images and another soft-focus backdrop of assembled manuscripts completes the inner sleeve. A smooth package to match the smooth production quality of the audio.

Tracks interfade creating a flowing whole where the mood is consistently Asian but always evolving with new shades and fresh nuances. Classical male Indian singers and chimes interlace cutting edge programming and production. Crystalline arps and crisp beats accompany lush flutes and tablas - electronic drones and pulsing basslines lurking beneath. Cell presents a softer side on Phonic Peace than you may have heard on a number of previous compilations and this is very welcome. The final track 'Orange' is one of my favourites where flickering d'n'b loops creep imperceptibly in over a bed of chilled melodic electronics and the semi-classical voice of Meena; building in intensity hurried tablas keep pace all the while until the concluding dissipation when the lazy pace of the opening returns once more.

MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

Liquid soft, shadowy ambience with a scattering of murmured percussion. Drifting, rolling sheets of tone unfold like slow-motion waves as Numina paints onto an infinite ocean of darkness with tidal washes of coloured light. On the few tracks where a beat swells up, the percussion is gentle, deep, reverberating, almost tribal in places with shakers and low booms - agitating yet never breaking the surface. Chordal patterns on Eye of the Nautilus are quite harmonious but the pace always falls far short of breaking out of floating ambience and into clear melody. In places clock-like bells and metallic chimes, as if of all sizes, swung by the wind are interspersed with plucked notes all spiralling in meandering eddies with a common direction.

Lustrous layers and beds of ambience, elegant and graceful in perpetual motion where nothing is hurried and submersion is absolute. This sort of subtle music always creates beautiful visions of nature for me - suspended, unfolding, revolving. Vaporous pads suggest the heavenly, ethereal where darkness is a welcome feature, a backdrop for colour and texture. At times Eye of the Nautilus sounds plaintive, wistful, almost solemn - but never depressive, the shadows are evocative and expansive not a path into obscurity.

Numina (Jesse Sola) cites Steve Roach, Robert Rich and vidnaObmana among his influences and this can be heard in the consistently smooth shadowy clouds of synthetic sound on Eye of the Nautilus. If anything Numina has a sleeker feel - where sonic sheets and veils come in diaphanous layers, moving like the transparent, soft-edged shadows of clouds among lush drones and dense synthetic mists.

MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

Tinkling chimes, glassy synths and delicate guitars combine to form a series of bright luminous tracks. Sometimes beatless and then crisp with contemporary percussion - chopped-up, effected voice samples and warm electronics intertwine around Ian Boddy's sensitive programming and Markus Reuter's 'touch' guitar playing. Pure has an improvised feel to it, at times nebulous, atmospheric and hazy and then melodic with intricate tinkling piano-like voices and clear plucked strings tracing fragile patterns.

This CD has a light, lively quality, calming and fresh as track titles suggest - 'Glisten', 'Immersion', 'Breathe', 'Pure'. There is an almost oriental feel in places brought about by a combination of serene washes and metallic chimes cycling round and around. I'm reminded of patterns of light dancing on water, summer showers, myriad droplets of sound echoing across tonal sheets - beautiful in places, mesmerising and engrossing.

U.K. electronic artist Ian Boddy and German touch guitarist, Markus Reuter have worked together before in 1999 producing the album Distant Rituals. Once more Pure is a bringing together of two very imaginative styles that complement each other excellently. From liquid, floating textures and abstract sonic assemblages to sharp beats and dripping, sparkling, echoing melodies, the two musicians combine their crafts with a tight, inventive creativity. Production notes explain that these are "original compositions based on ambient textures and dry recordings of touch guitar performed by Markus Reuter".

MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

Ambient/downtempo soundscapes with roots somewhere in trance, very atmospheric and emotive. Conceived as a series of seven logically flowing movements, Aftermath starts out drifting, swelling, dark and ominous; bird song twinkles through the mists and the throb of a bassline builds and is gone. From here on beats well up like tides, crisp and light with thick kicks rising out of oceanic ambient orchestrations and then echoing, fluttering away again. Much of the beauty of Aftermath is in the interplay of cycling motifs (pulsing bass, skittering percussion, shivering arps) and intriguing sonic effects and textures. Fascinating details whisper into our ears, the mood shifting and evolving from one track to the next. The final track is a departure, featuring a piano arrangement of surprising beauty.

Aftermath is the work of Vincent Villuis with the voices of Mahiane and Pascale Auffret and an arrangement by Huby Sea. Being a limited edition, obtaining the CD is now unlikely - but there's no need for despair, the whole album can be downloaded from AMBIENT.US HERE. The promotional material for Aftermath says “Aftermath aims to be a series of sound photographies of our "beautiful" world in complete rotation. These Aftermaths which one experiences closely or from afar, at times personal others mediatized, these dark grey or luminous climatic moments. Peace, it seems, becomes precarious, some are trying to archive it. " Less is more on this album; the space emphasising Vincent's sensitivity to fine layers of sound, the stripped down rhythmic elements allowing harmonic features and enigmatic fragments to tell their tales.