“This is a judicious collection of music that Airsculpture performed during a another tour on the American East Coast in 2011”
1 Systole (19:12)
2 Boardwalking (13:46)
3 Ranger Station (11:08)
4 Necrophone (25:45)
5 Jersey Greys (10:40)
(CD/DDL 80:31)
(Berlin School, England School)
Whistlings of allegorical streaks and Mellotron waves full of very sinister sighs open the ceremonial of Systole. The intro is cover of nebulous mist to the tones of old organ and by their analog perfumes, feeding synth lines which are dying and which are reborn of their last breaths. The Mellotron throws some fluty harmonies which have difficulty to emerge out of this dense fog where the shadows of the harmonies disintegrate on the birth of a line of rhythm which pulses lazily. The ambience is deliciously dark. Percussions are clicking with indiscipline around the beatings which little by little dominate the ambiences with a good velocity. The trajectory of the rhythm becomes object of desire for the ears with a two-phase movement which answers the echoes of the other one in a perfect desynchronization. And this rhythm feeds on its shadows in order to forge a heavy and deep spiral which runs after its last beating, as a mad dog does after his tail, in the furrows of its resonances and beneath a sky immobilized by an avalanche of lines where some are escaping to forge nice spectral harmonies. Systole gives the kick-off to VANISHING POINT Vol.1; a collection of music that AirSculpture performed during a tour on the American East Coast in 2011. And the English trio puts everything into it; as much at the level of the atmospheres rich in mellotron mist, that in rhythms rich in wild sequences. The universe of AirSculpture is mainly based on improvisation performances. With time, Adrian Beasley, John Christian and Peter Ruczynski have known how to develop a fascinating complicity through long exploratory sonic corridors where each one eventually found the den of the other one. And at each time the question remains: are they going to surprise? To charm? In a style where everything has been said and heard, Airsculpture always manages to distance itself and to seduce. Yes it takes ears which want more than a plasticized esthetic, because the music of VANISHING POINT Vol.1 is in accordance in every respect with the signature of AirScuplture which has never made in the ease and which, nevertheless, always manages to stamp our ears of perfumes that we often look for somewhere else.
Boardwalking is an ambient track fed by the same perfumes which have surrounded the birth of Systole. Perfumes which will float everywhere around the atmospheres, almost nocturnal, of VANISHING POINT Vol.1. Here, the rhythm is pulsing of its muffled beatings under a dense coat of the mellotron. If the movement is lively, it remains rather passive. A little as a heart which beats fast in a sleepy body but galvanized by disturbing dreams. Percussions are dancing all around it, mixing their hits in chords which stroll in order to metamorphose into short-lived sparklings, reminding the link which exists between the English progressive music and its electronic school. Noises and gas of cryogenic machines open the very tetchy Ranger Station; a good track decorated of a beautiful final. The larvas of synth are pouring out of the heavens and float like spectres which squeak in a universe where the machines possess the souls. The decoration is fabulous, and the rhythm settles down there easily with wet sequences which waddle under the ceaseless jingles of the metallic elytrons. The rhythm bangs and resounds on a shroud filled with twigs which burst of organic tones here. I told you so; the setting is incomparable. The synth strata are hooting such as cursed spectres while the structure of rhythm jumps up continuously in a passage which changes constantly of tones. The sonic sky is always copper-colored of mellotron waves and of strata which at times borrow the philharmonic aromas of the Dream. And the rhythm becomes livelier. Faster, it hammers a linear march and it looks like each blow makes raise its thick cloud of strata and layers until it withers in order to let float a delicious wave of Mellotron filled with of analog charms.
Necrophone is the pièce of résistance of VANISHING POINT Vol.1. Its intro is weaved in the ambiguity with a kick of sequences which suffocates in heavy Mellotron layers fed of carbon monoxide. Little by little the rhythm is dying, spreading out more and more its muffled pulsations in order to let float those immense sonic larvas which bloom like rays of blue which are dirtying a dark sky by long dying shouts. The mellotron layers are as much enveloping as they are striking. The impulses and the slow movements which they throw are moving like a thick cloud of smog which enclose our senses. Absent voices hum in the wealth of the layers which irradiate of its colors as contrasting like a sky which turns from back to front. And it's in this envelope that the superb structure of rhythm is coming out. Superb is a very thin superlative here! As soon as the last layers have runs away, the troop of sequences is born with keys which sparkle of their crystal-clear tones. Certainly, there are layers of violin which annoy the delicate movement, but it's the shadows which get loose, multiply and resound which become a real object of greed for my ears. The rhythm is heavy, with shadows which brawl quickly and slowly at the same time. It irradiates the room with effects of echoes and of resonances which feed indefatigably this troop of sequences and pulsations which overflows continuously in tones and related directional axes. The more it moves forward and the more the movement spits its rabies in a pattern of rhythm as I rarely heard, so much the intensity equals the creativity. This is more than 11 inflammatory minutes which explodes in Necrophone. And quietly it finds shelter in those dense and stifling layers and lines of an intro which at no moment led to predict such a storm. After such an act, our ears are thirsty of tranquility. And it's exactly of what is made Jersey Greys. Layers of mellotron upon layers, over synth lines and over the singing of flutes or the whispers of absent voices in a quiet finale where the spectres of the nights of the American East Coast finally seem to have found again some peace and rest.
Magical and impressive, VANISHING POINT Vol.1 is some great AirSculpture. And the best is yet to come, because the performance at the Gatherings concert, so enthusiastically reported on the social networks, is scheduled to hit the market later this year with a Vanishing Point Vol.2, a 2 CD set. In the meantime, VANISHING POINT Vol.1 possesses all the attributes to please to the fans of an EM which refuses all etiquettes. AirSculpture is AirSculpture! Of course, we can hear here and there the perfumes of its influences, but just enough to give a wink and never too much to lose identity. Yeah...This is great AirSculpture. And Necrophone... The qualifiers here seem to me too pale. You owe to listen to it!
Sylvain Lupari (June 3rd, 2015) ****½*
Available on AirSculpture Bandcamp