CARBON ENTITY: Within The Cosmic Void (2019)

“Fans of Steve Roach, don't miss this pretty nice ambient music album which blends harmonious threads in slow evolving ambient beats”

1 Travelling in Deep Crysosleep 15:24 2 Ancient Temples of Proxima Centauri B 10:02 3 Frontier 3:59 4 Sentient Exploration 13:46 5 The Cygnus Signal 5:30 6 The Center of Nowhere 5:59

Zen Gate Music | ZEN2019 (CD/DDL 54:43)

(Ambient Music, Pacific School)

A wave coming from the West embraces my ears with slow anesthetic volutes. Its slow sinuosity gives subtle impetuses to the movement of Traveling in Deep Crysosleep on which get grafting thin threads of voice. Loops come and go in the shadow of this sinuous waving movement, increasing their tonal accuracy while that some cosmic voice effects barely pierce this tinny ambiospherical veil. Shadows blow murmurs reflecting an aura of reverberations that amplify the very cosmic texture of this first title to come out of WITHIN THE COSMIC VOID. Some weak percussive elements are floating with the movement of this mass of waves and shadows, recalling the structures of Steve Roach. Rushes of intensities force the amplification of the sound drones and thus increase the delicately bouncy procession of a rhythm which draws with it a melodious approach that we notice on the late. More sibylline than purely ethereal, the structure leaves its nest of shadows and mysteries to show brighter reflections that form a pleasant sound fusion in a structure which pleases the ear quite well. Traveling in Deep Crysosleep is good enough for us to be more interested in this first Carbon Entity album. Project of the American artist Gunter Platz, WITHIN THE COSMIC VOID is a first album of ambient music which says to draw its inspirations mainly from the works of Biosphere and John Serrie, as well as masters of the German movements of the 70's, including the first albums from Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. I have not heard these links of influence, maybe a little of John Serrie, but I find that Michael Stearns and Steve Roach projects a lot of more sonic fragrances. At least in this album which is a pretty nice surprise with a music of soft ambiences and melodious parts deliciously structured around beautiful lunar orchestrations and ambient rhythms that melt in the ears.

Multiple reverberation bubbles are rolling in cascade through the opening of Ancient Temples of Proxima Centauri B. Whispers of amphibians infuse an organic vision to this texture that let pass keyboard riffs (perhaps guitar a la Steve Hackett) and subsequently arpeggios tinkling as in a small symphony of bells. The movement shapes an ambient rhythm that climbs to the heavens with a seraphic gait while being overflown by menacing wooshh. The echo of the beats is also a source of cerebral rhythm while other riffs of keyboards brave the force of the interstellar winds which don't prevent at any time Ancient Temples of Proxima Centauri B to reach another harmonious point towards its final. The shimmer of arpeggios also structures a small concerto of small bells in Frontier. This time the dark and threatening winds are more ubiquitous than the previous title. Sentient Exploration is another evolutionary title that begins with muted breezes which turn into a mass of floating drones with peaks of intensity in the slow ascending oscillations. Color contrasts add a little more sibylline depth to this movement which is already in need of mutation. Layers of lunar violins weave oblong orchestrations that dance softly with these drones, thus mystifying the listening with sound projections tied by effects of echoes. Wooshh and waashh adorn a sonic panorama frozen in its reflection whereas that lapping of water and sound elements stolen from neighboring fields are piercing this ambient phase. The percussive elements of Ancient Temples of Proxima Centauri B come back again in order to cuddle the listening of a title which is inspired by the first two monuments of WITHIN THE COSMIC VOID in order to tie the intro to its final. A little flaw here that could be avoid if the 5 tracks of this album complemented themselves into one single musical mosaic. The potential is there, it lacks only the experience ... The Cygnus Signal is a signal that returns in a loop in a melodious envelope. The winds are welcoming it, as well as field recordings and sound effects that twist into musical arabesques. Cosmic waves roar and add an astral depth to this movement that taps into its range of samples and effects in order to connect its beginning to its end. Stripped of these effects, The Center of Nowhere is a symphony of winds in which all forms and colors intertwine in a short, more musical journey than the totally abstract elements of atmospheres, though they are always very meditative.

Well, I liked my first contact with the music of Carbon Entity. Although well home-made and played with hardware synths which copy an analog universe, WITHIN THE COSMIC VOID is a beautiful meditative music album that does the work in order to accompany us to some starry beddy-byes of ambient music. I see a great potential in terms of composition structures and of the tonal color schemas from Gunter Platz who offers a first album full of promises for the followings. Carbon Entity! A name to remember for lovers of ambient music and one starts with the discovery of WITHIN THE COSMIC VOID.

Sylvain Lupari (April 11th, 2019) ***½**

SynthSequences.com

Available at Zen Gate's Bandcamp