“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious”
1 Incantations 10:36
2 Incandescence 12:32
3 Initiations 39:15
(DDL 62:23) (V.F.)
(Abstract, IAM)
Do you really want it? Well, let's start with the obituary atmospheres of Incantations. A cello effect caressing its strings rolls in loops and structures a rhythmic ride which loses its gallop to collapse in its last breaths. Its lamentations serve as a bed for a piano note which has tirelessly fallen since the opening of the moods of this introductory title to the last Anantakara album. The aphasic strings become effects of the synth which pushes dark roars, while the initial ride tries to take shape in an environment made hostile by what seems to be ululations, I even heard a bleating, from a pack of wolves which fits its carcasses in the same body. And so on… If Momentum Lapses had pleasantly surprised you last year, expect another surprise from Philippe Wauman who this time crossed the frontiers of anti-music. Sometimes aggressive and other times intriguing, the music of TRANSMUTED BY requires a gaping open mind. And if the music of Terry Riley and Steve Reich has an attraction for you, you are in the right place with this latest installment of Anantakara available in download format on the website of Aural Films.
One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. It's on these writings of Carl Gustav Jung that Philippe Wauman has decided to lay the foundations of this universe full of ambiguities. Distortions, audacious sound effects and structures of rhythm pushed by ingenious loop effects, Incantations, like Incandescence, charge your ears, mine bleed in many places, with an incredible precision between the sounds and their double identities buried in a parallel universe. After a slow opening where the piano still plays with roaring strings, Incandescence introduces figures of rhythm which make me think of the decaying universe of Synergy in Games. Besides, the passage around the 8th minute is breathtaking. Power and his timid reflection are a strong point in this title which guides me a little better in this minimalist cabalistic universe. After these two titles which are rather difficult to assimilate, Initiations is a long title which draws from the dark and dissonant elements of the first two titles in order to reconstruct them in a clearly more musical atmosphere. There are always these sonic spurts of anti-music, except that Anantakara puts things right just before our ears start to suffer. If I had a parallel to make, it would be with Amarok from Mike Oldfield. Not in the content but in the angry vision which circulates through the 40 minutes of this title whose many personalities are more attracted by the clarity. Philippe Wauman's wish! Hard! Very hard, but there are good moments that justify this roughness balance between light and dark. This is now what one has named; Intelligent Ambient Music (IAM)
Sylvain Lupari (December 24th, 2019) ***½**
Avalaible at Aural Films Bandcamp