“Magical moments that push to a greater introspection”
1 Horus 4:54
2 Event Horizon 12:02
3 Megalit 4:02
4 Glacial Lake 4:33
5 Mount Meru 9:05
6 Into the Galactic Nucleus 10:38
7 Duat 6:53
(CD 52:19) (V.F.)
(Progressive EM, EDM Berlin School)
For fans of Berlin School style of electronic music (EM), whether ambient or sequencer-based, Ricochet Dream has become a safe bet. Over the years Vic Rek's label has produced some great EM releases, while organizing thematic mega concerts around the world to celebrate or highlight an event related to Tangerine Dream; the cultural engine of Ricochet Dream. Since its establishing, this New Jersey based label has revived the music of ex-TD members and introduced us to some great artists that were either forgotten or in their debut, including Spyra, Picture Palace Music, Polaris and the latest; Daniel Bloom. Originally from Poland, Bloom has established himself as a leader in the Poland School movement with his use of analog equipment and musical structures that are close to the roots of the Dream. Released in 2003 under the Polish title Horyzont Zdarzeń, EVENT HORIZON is a first album since 1996. It's also a first album on the American label and it gathers material composed in his Two Minutes Elsie Studio between 2001 and 2003. An album where cosmic rock is cheerfully shaped in the influences of the Dream and Krautrock
Horus plunges us right into Bloom's intriguing musical world. Heavy ethereal glow with a synth whose dark and spectral lyrics get lost in a subdivision of synth layers and of mists that get lost on a flickering sequenced movement, Horus takes the paths of a cosmic rock with all the panoply of psychedelic sound effects of the 70's. Heavy rhythm on nervous sequences which undulate like pulsations in cascades, the guitar bites it along the spectral synth waves and ingenious analogue effects. A short track which puts a lot in the ears, and which shows all the capacity of Daniel Bloom to integrate his music on parallel universes. Another short track, Megalit offers a dramatic intro with its powerful drum beats that pound a heavy rhythm full of cybernetic strata. They coo and form loops in the shadow of a short melodious refrain that muffled percussions feed of a nice musical poetry. Short and superbly efficient as Glacial Lake and its intriguing atmospheric approach, worthy of a nothingness that hardly comes to life on a very good sequenced movement reminiscence of the Wavelenght album.
The longest track on EVENT HORIZON, the title-track starts on a synth with intriguing astral waves that spawn like spectres in an empty spaceship. A sequenced movement, marinated with butterfly cymbals, pierces this nebulousness to undulate nervously and ferociously in an envelope of analogue sound effects from a synth with spectral breaths and a Mellotron with vaporous layers creating a mystical aura. From nowhere, a soft synth refrain appears. A melodious one that dances lasciviously around this combination of rhythms suspended between its delicate harmonies and its wispy wanderings, before sinking into the chasms of a heavy cosmic rock with a snoring guitar that spits out its twisted melodies under the guards of a sequential movement always as percussive and a synth whose minimalist loops emerge from a sordid corrosive universe. If Event Horizon immersed us in a complex musical universe, Mount Meru doesn't get us out of it with its sequences which oscillate in cascade beneath resonant strata of a hybrid synth. A synth whose brief melodious interludes gravitate around a rhythmic with twisted metamorphic patterns whose syncopated movements are constantly coated with reverberating waves. A track difficult to tame and whose complexity is forgotten with the superb Into the Galactic Nucleus and its sequences à la Flashpoint and Thief which run at wild speed under synth layers floating with analog effluences. A very good track that increases its potential with an alien X-Files approach on sequences with subdivided keys which jump under a synth as spectral as spatial. Duat closes this first album of Daniel Bloom on Ricochet Dream with a very catchy structure where sequences and percussions modulate a rhythm supported by a synth with multiple melodious layers. From suave to dramatic, this track combines essences of the powerful rhythms of Horus and Megalit on a melodic structure both complex and harmonious, as found on the title-track.
Complex, random, progressive and spatial; EVENT HORIZON is a subtle blend of dualism between harmonies and extreme structural modulations where melodies get lost in the confines of a musical universe both complex and enchanting. This latest album by Daniel Bloom is not as easy to get used to like an album by Spyra or Picture Palace Music, although the two universes cohabit easily. On the other hand, once well anchored in the hollow of our ears there are unique moments. Magical moments that push to a greater introspection. And it is in these moments that we discover the pure jewels that are hidden behind the complex universe of EVENT HORIZON.
Sylvain Lupari (September 22nd, 2010) ***½**
Available at Ricochet Dream web shop