“It's not a kind of Best of...but the best parts of Volume 1 are here in an extended version”
1 Ranger Station (complete) (35:31)
2 Diastole (17:16)
3 You’ve got Necrophonic Mail (25:48)
(DDL 68:35)
(Berlin School, England School)
In addition to the two excellent first chapters of Vanishing Point, the AirSculpture gang offers its fans a third chapter offered in downloadable format only, and at a more than reasonable price. VANISHING POINT Vol. 3 offers two titles from the first volume in a different remix or extended version and a new title; the very ambient and dark Diastole.
The full version of Ranger Station alone is worth the money! A full introduction totaling nearly 8 minutes for a tasty extension of a rhythm structure comfortably installed in its minimalist cocoon for more than 25 minutes, Ranger Station (complete) is a real treat for fans of the English trio who gives all they have here by sprinkling some small multiples of treasures in tones and electronic effects that enhance the already great notoriety of the synthesizers. Ditto for a structure of rhythm that gambols and resonates blithely in an intense sound mosaic that borders the borders of nocturnal psychedelia. Diastole plunges us into an intense mosaic of howls, bellows, winds or dark breezes. It's a title of heavy and dark ambiances where roars, rattles or daydreams a storm of dark winds and sibylline melodies. It's like a long journey through a labyrinth of burials where the anger of the inhabitants translates into an armada of beats and bumps, a bit like an army of ghosts who wants to make the intruders flee. The sonic envelope is rich, and the moods are a little disturbing.
And AirSculpture continues to pamper us with You've got Necrophonic Mail that eradicates its chaos of this very unusual rhythmic portion that made Necrophone the pièce de résistance of Vanishing Point Vol.I. But here, there are no shades or nuances to these tam-tams drumming a sort of tribal trance Amerindian. Supported by the tones of another world found on John Christian's answering machine, the trio wants to recreate the atmospheres of an aimless walk in a desolate and rotting cemetery. I would say it's more successful with Diastole. But the trio is not quite far here, especially when the final is getting closer. Minimalist rhythms dominate 20 of the 26 minutes with a mesh of contemporary Schulze sequences, thumps and percussions plowing and derailing in a cemetery atmosphere.
Need this VANISHING POINT Vol.3? It depends on which side we are! For structured EM fans, not really! But for fans of these long improvised sonic masses that always end up and explode, I think so. Not to mention that You've got Necrophonic Mail is a sound monument. But for AirSculpture fans? The question doesn't even ask itself!
Sylvain Lupari (January 26th, 2017) *****
Available on AirSculpture Bandcamp