“Few artists can really do retro Berlin School like in this good team effort with Lambert Ringlage”
1 In Search Of Silence Part 1 (41:03) a) Engines of Search 6:25 b) Rain of Stars 5:55 c) Orbital Journey 10:34 d) Space Flight 4:14 e) Arise in the Desert 5:57 f) A World Apart 7:58 2 In Search Of Silence Part 2 (13:30) a) Walking on Dunes of Time 13:30 3 In Search Of Silence Part 3 (16:55) a) Meeting One Self 4:22 b) Introspection 5:52 c) To the Center of the Earth 6:41 Spheric Music | SMCD 6304
(CD 71:28) (V.F.) (Vintage Berlin School)
EM of the vintage Berlin School style still exists. You know this old model with atmospheres as cosmic as Mephistophelian and rhythms as soft as fuzzy which take strength and shape through a high wall of sounds with constants evolutions? Eh well…if a lot of artists succeed to reach these levels, few can make it as Bertrand Loreau. In fact, since his very first album made on Spheric Music, Journey Through the Past in 2012, the brilliant synthesist from Nantes spreads his dominance on the genre with such an ease that each album manages to surpass the precedent and to surprise his public. IN SEARCH OF SILENCE is in this same lineage!
This 2nd collaboration with Lambert Ringlage begins with astral waves which propel electronic chirpings. In Search Of Silence Part 1 opens in a symphony of ambient noises where roams a good synth with the harmonies as so worn-out as the anarchy of the sounds which dominate the territory of Engines of Search. The stars whistle and crumble off while the sequences pound aimlessly nor precise rhythms and the synth sculptures solos which stretch out in the comatose hummings. We are in a sphere of experiment of sounds and of the reheating of the machines when Rain of Stars moves on with a movement of sequences which makes its keys cavort innocently under a sonic density which cools the ashes of Armageddon. And always, the synth waves are concentric in their cosmic envelopes. In voices and dust of mists is born the superb movement of Orbital Journey. The rhythmic skeleton of Rain of Stars widens its minimalist approach which metamorphoses in capers hardly faster but definitively more cheerful. The ambiences are weaved in cosmic mists and in dusts of stars while the synth multiplies the solos which sound as the laments of a happy but always nostalgic saxophonist. And the more we move forward in In Search Of Silence Part 1 and the more the structure of rhythm metamorphoses according to the fluidity of the agile fingers which torture the sequencer. Thus, Space Flight reveals a wild rhythm where the sequenced keys are jumping in the reflections of bass of their main chords. The synth injects solos which are more musical and less solitary with a sibylline approach which defies the melodious side of these synthesized songs. We are in the heart of vintage EM with Tangerine Dream's shadows, period Phaedra to Sorcerer, which glide over structures of rhythm tinted of nebulosity. Arise in the Desert follows with a softer rhythmic structure. Here, the movement of sequences lays wide loops with 5 keys which roll and play with their shadows whereas the synths adjust their charms with celestial harmonies. And the solos are devastating for those who are crazy, like me, of artists who did not forget the principles of EM. They float like splendid songs of nightingales in a lunar decoration. It's somehow as if Jean-Michel Jarre has infiltrated the atmospheres of TD.
The residual hummings of Arise in the Desert throw themselves into A World Apart. The synth dresses again the skin of a saxophone with an approach of Blues while the sequences skin their membranes with organic tones to limp in a decoration which sets ablaze their velocity for a brief moment, before that the cosmic ambiences wrap the whole thing. The rhythm is reborn! Softer it skips with difficulty whereas the synth solos always remain so attractive, so catchy with their tints of saddened saxophonist who mixes tears and grudge with an infinite tenderness. In Search Of Silence Part 2 takes back all the attributes of Part 1 with a beautiful progression in the minimalist walking of the sequences. The only difference is in the spheroidal approach of the movement which gives a more contemporary approach to a title which breathes Klaus Schulze at full nose, period Body Love, except for the synth solos which are more electronic, less nostalgic and airy here. The effects, the atmospheres and the decoration, although I like this subtle flavor of Jarre, are so near to KS … We just cannot not like it! And it's also true for the trilogy of In Search Of Silence Part 3 which confronts the structure of rhythm between lively and\or ambient movements, on the same bases as In Search Of Silence Part 1. Except that here, the structure is more condensed and varies with more speed its approaches. For one, Meeting One Self begins heavily, like an interbreeding of ['ramp] and Redshift, before quietening down with a more ambient phase. The synths are always of delicious decorative objects with very beautiful solos and effects to be made buzz our ears. Introspection offers a lively structure with a fight between crystal clear and bass sequences, the heavier ones get the win, in a shower of very Schulze solos. Isolated in its corner, To the Center of the Earth is Dantesque, both in its rhythm and its ambiences, and ends a very strong opus where the fans of retro Berlin School will have ears full. Very strong and very beautiful! The effect is even more devastating with a listening divided in 2. One listens to In Search Of Silence Part 1 one evening and to its 2 younger brothers of sounds the other evening. So, all the strength of this album strikes us quite harder. To recommend strongly! It snakes into a place in my Top 10 list of 2016.
Sylvain Lupari (November 22nd, 2016) ****½*