“The challenge of the listener invited to join the rank of Chris fans isn't really a challenge since the ambient music here flows with musicality”
1 Invitation 10:02
2 The Path Less Traveled 6:56
3 Destiny 7:07
4 Life Cycles 6:15
5 Soul Nexus 9:52
6 Density of Light 6:36
7 Awoken 8:37
(CD/DDL 55:33) (V.F.)
(Ambient Music)
There is something very captivating in Chris Russell's music. Musician known for injecting sound masses as compact and luminescent as the worlds of Rudy Adrian as well as Erik Wollo, without the guitars, he offers here a 4th album on Spotted Peccary where the challenge of the listener invited to join the rank of his fans isn't really a challenge. Since everything flows very well in DESTINY.
Like Invitation, sound waves awaken a sleeping panorama, like a sun welcoming another seraphic day. And yet, the music of the American musician is always shaded by his contrasts which very often draw on the Dark Ambient. Except that this atmospheric sculptor always knows how to take advantage of his musical canvases by inserting these luminescent lines whose timbre of astral nymphs sometimes manage to radiate far more than the colors stolen from the textures of the abyssal corridors. Invitation therefore flows with this paradox to seize a line of azure resonance which sculpts bells as invisible as its tinklings in a softness which shines even more with these waves which roll on this ocean of serenity. The Path Less Traveled is a linear movement driven by the roar of winds and waves. A more translucent zone appears upstream of its 2 minutes, creating a sonorous foam which swirls in its mucus before resuming its initial texture and encountered a rough ending. The title-track illuminates the soundscapes with a long, luminous curve which circulates like a big sonic snake encountering a nest of oddities that hatch like reverberant curlers. A fairly intense title, the subtleties of Life Cycles are heard when the surges of the sound waves give rise to fine staccatos which return on the air and continue the same cycle. Soul Nexus is a bit in the same vein, while Density of Light falls between our ears like a vertical mass and its reverberating beads. This slab of garish particles falling from the abyss crashes in a wave of hot currents which circulates its sound booty in an area of hot and humid breezes, thus maintaining it at a more tolerable sonic temperature. It's under an intense drizzle provided by the broth of water at the feet of the falls that Awoken plays with the emotions of its atmospheres. The tone of the steel dust amplified to its maximum and vibrating from these amplifications is like a bed of vibrations advancing quietly in the seconds of stagnant music. We arrive at the point of a good phase of tranquility after the 4 minutes. A little further on we watch for a ferryman and his huge sledge with sound mass which drags the 2nd phase of Awoken in the best known and the most exploited corridors by Chris Russell in DESTINY.
For lovers of ambient music and of ambiences drawn and recorded among the many gifts of the Earth, DESTINY is an ambient work that can be listened to without pain for our stress. There are times during the day when this genre is welcome. It's well done and very immersive, while displaying a good musical level. Available in a manufactured CD and coming in an ecological six-panel sleeve, this other good achievement of the Spotted Peccary label is available for download in high-quality 24-bit audiophile on its download platform.
Sylvain Lupari (April 8th, 2020) ***¾**
Available at Spotted Peccary Bandcamp