“A big crush! Inspired by JM Jarre, his music will make you fly and spin in his own visions of cosmic EM…like this pioneer we never heard of”
1 Aethereal Fields I 5:45
2 Aethereal Fields II 7:17
3 Aethereal Fields III 7:05
4 Aethereal Fields IV 8:42
5 Aethereal Fields V 7:21
6 Aethereal Fields VI 2:37
7 Aethereal Fields VII 8:02
8 Aethereal Fields VIII 6:11
(DDL 53:00) (V.F.)
(Cosmic French School)
EM lives in another country, and a big one besides that; Russia. It was after a post on the Synth & Sequences Facebook page that I got interested in Andrey Klimkovsky's music. A name was associated with his music; Jean-Michel Jarre. I knew the French musician was popular in Russia, but not to the point of having spawned artists influenced by his music. I checked out his Bandcamp site. I liked what I heard and you must have known that this Russian musician already has over 100 albums to his credit. And yet, it wasn't until last December that I saw his name for the first time. What I heard pleased me enough to ask the Russian musician for a promotional copy of his latest album AETHEREAL FIELDS. And no, there is no connection with Magnetic Fields! Do not look here for a musician who imitates JMJ, you will be disappointed. Apart from the texture of ambiences strongly imbibed by that of the French musician in Oxygene and Equinoxe, the music of AETHEREAL FIELDS flows in a peaceful cosmic vision with sequences which undulate more than gallop and synths with harmonic points specific to the Russian musician.
It's very gently that Aethereal Fields I begins our planetary journey. An immense bench of wooshh, where white noises crackle like phantom noises, brings us to this synth line which extends its reverences in a cosmic ambience of the most fleshed out. The layers stick to each other, awakening memories of En Attendant Cousteau under a starry sky, especially with these delicate arpeggios strummed on a misty keyboard. Soft, ambient and floating, Aethereal Fields I docks with Aethereal Fields II and its circular arpeggios dancing in the opposite direction of the orchestral layers. A level of intensity is grafted to this opening where the Cosmos is already brushing our earlobes. The percussions arrive around the 3rd minute. The flow only serves to establish this festival of fluttering sequences and these synth pads that have become melodious solos. In fact, the rhythm circulates more by the impetus of the sequenced arpeggios and these dense moving orchestral layers, which have been working in the same direction for a few laps now, than the percussions which have nevertheless accentuated the flow. We note an influence of Jarre in the wandering harmonies of AFII. And the percussions may have instituted a beat as solid as a metronome, the rhythm belongs to these sequences and these foggy layers of violins. We notice more and more the shadow of a bass that becomes dominant as Aethereal Fields II returns to the shallow winds of space. This bass line feeds the suspense of the bass circadian pulsations in the opening of Aethereal Fields III. The synth throws dying lines with their prismatic streaks while the keyboard discreetly sculpts a light military march. The rhythm is forged in an increasing intensity and these muffled impulses of this mass of layers woven in a mosaic whose meshes let filter the cruel lamentation of synths. And it's a synth, with its melancholy chant, which is best linked to the percussions and the bass pulsations structuring this lento rhythm. The solos are astonishingly seductive with this slight sibylline tone flirting with a cosmic decor which borders on perfection.
The tolling of bells welcomes the first morphic waltz steps of Aethereal Fields IV. The melody wanders since AFI and has never sounded so beautiful as here. The rhythm always exploits these oblong lascivious movements twinned with the fascinating chants of the synths. It's still progressing with this intensity curve which has become established in the melodious vision of synths which sounds so much more true with the electric piano of AFIV. The title's finale exploits this cosmic ethereal vision with seraphic hums transforming into a long cavernous breeze. It's from this hole that the rhythm explodes with a series of loops which roll on a carpet of electronic percussions with various tones. Always very active and creative, the synth weaves a melodic line which is pouring in magnificent catchy solos. Swapping its spectral tune for a more playful melody by the keyboard, the synth remains majestic with an emotional imprint that is matched only by its melancholy vision nicely sprinkled, with different tints and shapes, on the first 4 parts of AETHEREAL FIELDS. Besides the synth solos, the garden of cosmic tones is the album's best kept secret. On Aethereal Fields V, they are also the accomplices of this explosion, as much rhythmic as melodic, by letting go a swarm of scintillating arpeggios. These arpeggios play with the synth solos, amplifying an echo effect that fills the ears with happiness. A very solid title, and one of the most beautiful that I have heard in 2020. The emotional peak of the album reached; we must come back to earth. This is the reason for the short title of cosmic ambiences that is Aethereal Fields VI. Aethereal Fields VII is a good ballade structured on 2 well-adjusted chords between percussions. It gives a slow flow, circular and bewitching, even magnetizing, which little by little is embellished with good lunar orchestrations. The synth is always beautiful and has learned to give way to the piano which lightens the moods of a heavy and slow title crowned with a melodious cinematographic vision. The melodious ritornello is anchored and ends up creating its earworm between these arrangements which are incredibly beautiful and very moving at times. AETHEREAL FIELDS could have ended there! Since Aethereal Fields VIII adds nothing by taking a bit of the approach of Aethereal Fields VII. The title ends the album with a rhythm more animated by the excitement of the looped oscillations built in return on a mesh of electronic effects, sober percussions and sequences with mixed tones. This dense texture receives the grievances of a synth and its melancholy solos which give me the impression of circulating above a lonely cowboy and his horse crossing the cosmic deserts where undoubtedly Andrey Klimkovsky has another story to tell us. All he has to do is put it to music 😉!
A BIG crush! I enjoyed discovering the music of the Russian musician who seems to be very comfortable in terms of composition and arrangements in AETHEREAL FIELDS. Although slow, the rhythms keep us awake thanks to evolving structures whose primary charm remains these synth solos squandered in the 4 corners of a very seductive album and whose music revolves around the influences of JMJ without copying anything, nor imitate.
Sylvain Lupari (January 18th, 2021) *****
Available at Andrey Klimkovsky Bandcamp