“My arms tingle so much my hairs aim to the ceiling before this huge charge of intensity”
Antares Nebula 58:30
(DDL 58:30) (V.F.)
(Cosmic EM)
I love music! And above all, I love it when it takes me on a journey into sound galaxies where imagination knows no boundaries and gives us good shivers. And I particularly liked this interstellar journey that Andrey Klimkovsky offers us with his impressive new album ANTARES NEBULA. AK contacted me a few weeks ago to draw my attention to his brand-new album. His comments were simple; I should like his new album. And I loved it! Here is why...
This beautiful space odyssey starts with a synth layer and its cosmic ascendancy that little by little isolates us in our headphones, the best option to be carried away by this last album of the Russian musician. There are already these lines in the shape of snakes with rattlesnakes that adorn a decor taking a more dramatic ease with the weight of a bass layer getting always more convincing. Other layers pile up and suddenly we are in a universe where the borders of Oxygene and Equinoxe are crisscrossing. These pulsations and the invasion of rattling bugs force the synth to get its due with horizontal tears inspired by the futuristic emotions of Vangelis. It's a very good mise-en-scène from AK which continues to blow the heat and the cold by creating a mosaic of layers whose divergent tints marry a crescendo forming around the Babylonian layers of a synth which never seems to run out of inspiration, nor of impulses in order to create a mass which becomes more and more emotional. This first block, we're around the 10-minute mark, shows Klimkovsky's creativity to keep his slow drifting spiral from being a redundant event. Regular as clockwork, the Russian electronic bard constantly adds a new hue or element to avoid sterile hypnotic repetitions. Here, it's the sequencer that gradually loosens the scope of its rhythmic line in a cinematic musical mass imposing in its emotivity. And it comes from afar when our ears discern it. Frail and spasmodic, it remains in the background while the synth unfolds its orchestral layers filled with intensity and tears from the souls. Scattered, the snatches of harmonies and solos are also musical acts that constantly arouse our emotional curiosity. The rolls of the bass drums surprise our ears when they announce the second part of Antares Nebula, some10 seconds after the 24th minute.
Electronic percussion, sequencer and bass line come together to create a big circular cosmic rock initially filled with scarlet streaks screaming for freedom. The appropriate nuances, to make us shudder as well as enjoy this imposing animated structure, are delicately inserted to always motivate the listening. Another roll of bass drums, some 6 minutes later, invests Antares Nebula of its new interplanetary quest with a plethora of cosmic sound effects. We're now into big, heavy, slow rock that strikes terror into the intergalactic lanes as the stars now twinkle in these slices sounding like a Vangelis apocalyptic beacons. And these layers become fragments of solos with tones as intense as they are poignant. My arms tingle so much my hairs aim to the ceiling! And it's not finished. Another roll of drums appears 8 minutes later. It's at this moment that Andrey Klimkovsky decides to take out his piano and to flood our ears with moments as intense as those of Otarion or Bernd Kistenmacher. And me, I'm exhausted in this spiral which does not stop generating emotion on top of emotion. An imposing break occurs 11 seconds after the 41st minute. Antares Nebula keeps the same intensity but slows down its velocity. The piano is still sublime, and the decomposition of its notes adds a unique dimension, as if the calculated errors were trying to taint the purity of this vibrant musical ode. The orchestral drum rolls get closer and closer, redefining the character of ANTARES NEBULA each time. And little by little, this big track spreads its anger by decreasing its velocity in order to end in a Cosmos where its sound effects have lost all reference points. The ideal finale for a track of this scope.
Friends readers, you know my extreme sensitivity. Needless to say, I fell into ANTARES NEBULA from the first listening. Poignant and intense! And Andrey Klimkovsky knew it, otherwise he would never have announced the colors of ANTARES NEBULA with such pride. And I understand him! For me, this album is one of the more contemporary ones to be add to my list of timeless music from the 70's and 80's. Like Utopia, I Remain, The Demon Haunted World, Until We Meet The Sky, etc...
Sylvain Lupari (July 3rd, 2021) *****
Available at Andrey Klimkovsky Bandcamp