“Elektronische Erinnerungen is a nice surprise which needed time to let discover this surprising bridge between two eras of the Berlin School”
1 Traum 9:56 2 Die Reise 19:12 3 Ruhe 16:24 4 Erinnerungen 11:56 Nord Music
(DDL 57:30) (V.F.)
(Berlin School)
It took me time! But when I got it, I got it! Andreas Meyer is a new name which was blown to me in the ear by my friend Piero (Alluste). At the very beginning, my ears had a little bit of reserve. They were timorous. The style was a little unusual and these sequences which flicker in shades a little bit vague have left me neither fish nor fowl. After 2-3 listening, I even thought of giving up. Hooked on Maxime Chatham's last book, Ruhe fell in my ears with its core of charms. And there I began listening to and finally hear all the subtleties and the nuances, in particular at the level of the variants in the sequencing, which make the long minimalist structures evolutionary of the Andreas Meyer's very first album an oasis of tonal charms where both poles of the Berlin School movement meet in a solid album full of seductive elements.
The electronic recollections are also these first seconds when we used to put a vinyl on our turning table and where the silence was covered by the fryings. It's by this way that Andreas Meyer invites us to dive into the universe of ELEKTRONISCHE ERINNERUNGEN. Here, everything is delicate, and the movements evolve with a good dosage of subtleties. A line of sequences extricates itself from the white noises in order to make its keys skip peacefully in morphic clouds. Traum establishes its minimalist structure which is of use as basis to a beautiful electronic duel where the breaths of ethereal voices and the breezes of synth, certain split into delicate dreamy and vampiric solos, are floating over the fine nuances of its ambient rhythm. Related tones, which we can associate with drops of prism frozen in the nothingness, burst here and there, sparkling in an ambient universe which is slightly perturbed by synth layers to the more enveloping wings. The influence of Klaus Schulze is very tangible in the shifting of these layers which little by little restructure the passivity of Traum into a kind of cerebral trance where the sequences, and their tonal disguises, feed a duel of quirky percussions with these prisms which sound like a concert of stars between our ears. It's a long insistent movement which eats the last three minutes of Traum and of which the shades will share the rhythmic effects of the next track. Particles of sequences, disguised like singings of birds, shine around the somber twisted shadows which feed the introduction of Die Reise. There also, a troop of sequences in tones as much rich as an open-minded can imagine bickers for a structure of ambient rhythm which eventually has dropped a solitary line which fights with its resonant shadows. The movement remains ambient with a parade of sequences which skips in fine jerky oscillations, like a long stroboscopic snake, under the aegis of synth lines swollen with suspense. The waddling is hypnotic. Thus, we forget a little this wave of sequences which comes down in order to flicker and chirp under the organic singings and the cosmic solos of synths. It's like a brief tempest in the eye of a static hurricane. Except that the play of sequences and the bangings of ice-cold prisms add a bit of charm to this strange ballet without choreography. Long drones filled with mists establish an ambient dark climate at around the 10th minute, restoring this link between both structures of rhythms which differentiates the evolution of Die Reise. Here, the rhythm is livelier. It's more electronic with good sequenced percussions and lines of sequences which waltz such as a bird of prey scrutinizing the giant shadows of the American deserts throughout the charms of good synth solos. It's a strong second part!
According to my tastes, Ruhe is the most beautiful track in ELEKTRONISCHE ERINNERUNGEN. Solos whistle around the resonant layers of its intro. Spaced out pulsations sign an approach of rhythm which gets out of its den with some resonant paces of threat a little after the second minute. The approach is circular, and this long rustling skeleton is hiding between our ears, creating a fascinating movement of goes and comes. Pulsations and murmurs of drones fill the space between the scrollings of this rhythmic skeleton, as well as solos which coo with singings perfumed of oviparous essences. Solos which isolate themselves and make capers on the beatings of percussions, guiding the second portion of Ruhe towards a superb structure of electronic rhythm as much melodious as those cosmic odes of Software. A strong moment of charms my friends! Erinnerungen offers a very funeral introduction with dark chords and lines of synth mourners which stuff a funeral march. The synth lines are shining of their rippling waves which waltz in sibylline colors, whereas lively pulsations, as well as their shadows, bring out Erinnerungen of its melancholic coma. From ambient dark, Erinnerungen is transformed into a kind of military techno where every pulsations' luster wakes other electronic cosmic tones. That reminds me Moonbooter. But as each thing moves surely here, other sequences, more musical and certain even very ingenious, peck at this minimalist techno where always swirl these allegorical serpentines, and its woosh and its wiish, proper to a sonic universe which makes no compromise regarding its identity.
Playing on our recollections of a universe colonized by Klaus Schulze, ELEKTRONISCHE ERINNERUNGEN is a nice surprise which deserves the time to be discovered. Andreas Meyer, guided by Alba Ecstasy, amazes by this core of sequences, in the very diversified tones, which structures rhythms in constant movements. Those synths remind me enormously the universe of Software by decorating the ambiences of a very cosmic approach, uniting marvelously both bridges of a universe which always seems to have something of radiant to offer.
Sylvain Lupari (October 24th, 2015) ***½**
Available at Nord Bandcamp