“More ambient music which flows rather well in this new soundscape”
1 Landfall 8:02
2 Reactive Light 8:37
3 Liquid Memory 8:21
4 Frozen Clouds 11:50
5 Sub-Orbital Forest 6:50
6 Arcology 9:01
7 Solar Invocation 13:33
8 Meridian 6:26
9 Unearth 8:15
10 Fallen Land 8:00
11 Sylvan Rotation 14:19
12 Solarium 13:22
13 Vespyr Rising 21:49
14 The Age of Earth and Stone 6:00
(CD/DDL 144:31) (V.F.)
(Ambient beats)
MERIDIAN EX is almost 60 minutes of extra music versus the Meridian album. Set apart from the order of the titles which is slightly jostled, Unearth goes from rank 2 to 9 and The Age of Earth and Stone finishes the album at rank 14 versus the 10 in the original version, this new edition of the album which has become a highlight in Ascendant's career offers 4 long titles of ambiences which flow rather well in the landscape of MERIDIAN EX. The music deepens even better the vision of the Meridian adventure that begins 10,000 years in the future with a new land where abundance and equilibrium coexist in a world of alchemical transformation and where huge sub-orbital forest belts clean up the world and provide ozone and oxygen in a world where the gravity bends, but not the time.
Inserted at rank 9, Unearth focuses the rhythmic balance of this very expanded version of Meridian. Fallen Land is the first new title to be part of this ambient-cosmic symphony from the American duo. And the music and its moods stick pretty well to the 87 minutes of the first Meridian opus. The movement is slow and exploits these chloroformed layers which waltz with the stars in a lunar scenery, but surprisingly less than in that of the first version. The vision is certainly more symphonic with arpeggios that dance gently, forging a seraphic and ambient rhythm where always circulates a mass of waves and of celestial whispers that is at the origin of Fallen Land. A good title which deserves its place! Totally devoid of percussive elements, Sylvan Rotation and Solarium are flowing with different tonal phases in the rays of their dark, hollow and even buzzing breezes like in a universe in fusion. Solarium is a little more ethereal, sometimes even intense with a dramatic vision. The very long Vespyr Rising takes time to develop its structure with a soft introduction sewn in silk. The kind of silk very pleasant for the ears in meditation mode. The music is soft and follows an ethereal curve with slow and sinuous undulations that are traced by the graceful flights of synthesized wings. It's the ideal music to drift quietly towards sleep Unless you are a die-hard fan of the Ascendant duo or an ambient music aficionado with a hint of ether in the slow deployments of cosmic waves or still, a CD collector, (since that MERIDIAN X is available in both versions, manufactured CD and downloaded) this much expanded version of nearly an hour of Meridian doesn't add anything much to its first edition. The music is very floating and creates a trough of very ambient waves towards a final resuscitated by the sweet rhythm of The Age of Earth and Stone. The decision is yours', but this MERIDIAN X with a 6-panel digipack version is quite tempting. One gets information here...
Sylvain Lupari (April 8th, 2019) ***¼**
Available at Synphaera Bandcamp