“Possibly the best album from Uwe Saher since a long time, if not is best over his long and fructuous career”
1 Dreaming Soul 24:31 2 Pulsating Soul 24:08 3 Wide Soul 10:35 BWCD 18
(CD 59:14) (V.F.) (Berlin School, Ambient & EDM)
A new album of Brainwork arouses as much the curiosity as the craze at the fans of EM and especially his fans' base which follow his activities since the release of Sunrise at the beginning of the 90's. If in these years an album of Brainwork followed one of Element 4, since 2003 Uwe Saher enjoys changing the roles by sticking albums under the name of Brainwork which rather wore the hat of Element 4. This time COLOURS OF THE SOUL proposes 3 long musical axes where the Berlin School style flirts with Dark Ambient without forgetting the fiery approach of Element 4 with the boiling track Pulsating Soul.
It's thus with a ritornello fixed on a sequencer rotation that Dreaming Soul flows in the hypnotic beauties of a more contemporary Berlin School and of its charms. The initial movement always turning with the same delicacy whereas layers with perfumes ether rise to float and oscillate as if they were activated by a breeze as invisible as so delicate. A shadow of bass exiles itself out from the silence with curt notes which stretch in length their threatening heaviness. The percussions come then! Of a manual genre, they follow the serial and harmonious approach of the sequencer while giving some tonus to this structure which always makes us flirt with a state of hypnosis. It's at the bridge of the 6 minutes that we feel this minimalist approach smelling a light breeze of nuance, modifying the race of Dreaming Soul for a slower approach which facilitates the inlay of a synth and of its harmonious airs. Some nice fragrances of Robert Schroeder are floating here. The ritornello of the sequencer isolates itself at around the 12th minute in order to add a chord in plus which limps in the vapors of mist and ether. The nuance is small and nevertheless its impact will modify the pace of Dreaming Soul which at the moment remains misted and in the spheres of the 70's. That begins with the arrival of the knockings from a bass line and other knockings of percussions which add stimulus to these continuous repetitions, as harmonious as rhythmic, which swirl like a carousel to which a wheel is always missing. And Schroeder's perfumes return, looping the loop to this long interlude which has that slows down the hypnotic race of Dreaming Soul to which Uwe Saher adds percussive ornaments. A superb title which joins the big ones in Brainwork's repertoire!
Why do I have this feeling to hear Born to be Alive from the first riffs of keyboard of Pulsating Soul? Because this title is all the opposite of Dreaming Soul with an approach of Dance Music adorned with the most beautiful assets of the 70's and of the more contemporary years. The structure of Pulsating Soul evolves on the same mode as Dreaming Soul with a progression in rhythm and in melody which follows its plan, including this little moment when the pulsations sparkle in solo. The music is not as aggressive as we can imagine after its start of hopping pulsations and cymbals tsitt-tsitt. Veils of violins cover these mooses of dance with a mesmerizing ethereal approach. And little by little Uwe (Element 4) Saher add keyboard keys which borrow the little evasive melody from the violins. These violins evolve by soft staccato while another line of the keyboard digs up a melody which evolves in the shade of the leading one. The more the music moves forward and the more we notice its nice effects of percussions, as in the opening track, adding more relief to a music of dance to which one listens to very well. With Wide Soul, Brainwork attracts us in the Dark Ambient territories with a bed of drones which collects a nice melody with a translucent tone. These divergent elements bring the orchestrations to a very musical level by following the ethereal way of this opalescent line where we can even hear the humming of specters. And the set of these elements are nailing our subconscious in a state of charm since the first hummings of this title surprisingly musical for the kind. Surprising and very good, it concludes one of the best albums from Brainwork.
Sylvain Lupari (March 26th, 2018) ****½*
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