“This one is a fair album, mostly ambient, woven in the comfort of an astral journey”
1 Part 7 14:38 2 Part 8 9:49 3 Part 9 15:22 Alba Ecstasy Music
(DDL 39:48) (V.F.) (Ambient Beats)
Another rendezvous all in music and perfect for a Saturday night offered by Alba Ecstasy! This is the 3rd one since the series was reactivated at the end of August 2018. If the exercise can still be exciting when paired with YouTube, when is there music for our ears? Let's say that Part 7 does things well! Minimalist title set on three distinct lines, 2 rhythms that intersect their parallel leaps, and a line of more melodious arpeggios, Part 7 caresses our ears with these charms usual at the bank of sounds from Alba Ecstasy.
Sound filaments simmer in the pot before embracing this spheroidal cohesion unique to the ambient rhythms of AE and the New Berlin School genre. The palette of tonal colors from the Romanian synthesist is activated with a complicity, both rhythmic and melodic, between each shade to create rhythms and harmonies in a seraphic landscape. I like this whistling synth which drags its light air in these benches of bluish mists, while other shades sign an electronic babbling in to solidify this sonic mass into a soft electronic rock. A bit like a techno that lacks yeast. It's floating, very rich musically, and it blooms out towards the 9 minutes for a floating rhythm slightly more alive with these early seraphic arpeggios of the beginning. I smell Software's fragrances in this title. After an introduction stuffed of meandering synth lines which undulate with an aura of distortion, Part 8 offers an ambient music whose elements float and waltz in and with oblivion. There is a rather Chthonian vision of this title where Alba Ecstasy is very comfortable in ambient music. The track Floating Body will be a more concrete example. Part 9 concludes this last Saturday evening rendezvous with Mihail Adrian Simion with a cosmic-flavored sonic broth. In a more ambient context, the decor is similar to the one in Part 7 with these sonic insects which sparkle and shine around a heavenly hive. Here too we can hear some perfumes of Software, especially in the second half which is more poetic.
It could be that the source is drying up! Unless Alba Ecstasy is aiming for a more ambient context in his upcoming sessions, WHERE ARE THE QUIET SATURDAYS? Vol. 3 is woven in the comfort of an astral journey. It's an honest album that can be heard especially at dawn of sleeping or when we are reading. Moments when the ears are less demanding while still asking a good level of creativity.
Sylvain Lupari (October 28th, 2018) ***½**
Available at Alba Ecstasy's Bandcamp