“In Search of Silence is another masterpiece from David Wright!”
1 Sanctuary-Prologue 4:40
2 Transylvanian Lullaby 8:51
3 Shine On Cassini, Shine On 2:38
4 Echoes of Air 5:15
5 Sanctuary-Reprise 1:52
6 In Search of Silence 13:52
7 Debussy in the Mist 7:12
8 Alchemy| 10:36
9 Calmer Waters 6:21
10 Sea and Sand 3:23
11 Worlds Beneath 11:36
12 Sanctuary-Epilogue 2:42
(CD/DDL 78:51) (V.F.)
(Soundtrack, philarmonic EM, romance, melodious)
David Wright is an emblematic figure of the melodious and progressive EM style. His recent compilation album, The Spirit of Light, may has left his fans wondering if he was getting more into New Age than EM as we know it. For those, such as me, who were afraid, he has just answered emphatically with a masterpiece to rival anything he has done before! Composed in 2 chapters, IN SEARCH OF SILENCE reflects the ebb and flow of life. But above all, it's a wonderful and very musical album where rhythms and atmospheres encapsulate superb melodious approaches. David Wright surpasses himself with a stunning layout of sounds and a wonderful artistic tapestry, where every title fits into sublime musical collage, filled with an intense and bubbling musical fauna. This is David's 23rd solo opus and it joins his colossal works and widens his discography with another musical diamond that will charm his fans and clearly shows beyond any doubts that EM is much more than a simple story of sounds.
The first part of the album was first presented within the framework of the Schallwelle Music Awards, held in March 2011 at the Bochum Planetarium in Germany. And so as life begins, Sanctuary-Prologue extricates itself from silence by means of distant waves emerging from within lovely synth blows and star dusts. A musical fauna as much terrestrial than celestial welcomes this introductory title which glides in upon a universe of distant sounds and synth breaths, while a delicate and half hinted melody is heard. Forged within arpeggios of glass, the melody floats with a spiritual oriental approach and progresses to a dramatic crescendo among sinuous synth lines and discreet astral choirs to finally introduce the pulsating rhythm of Transylvanian Lullaby. A pounding rhythm teams up with a bass line from which wide loops lead to a slow gallop, driving Transylvanian Lullaby towards IN SEARCH OF SILENCE's melodious plains with a rhythm that explodes with a universe of heterogeneous percussion. These percussions are both soft and metallic and explode dramatically while their echoes present a delicious mixture, structuring a rhythm that increases its dynamism by forging forward on superb, wavy-like crisscrossed sequences. This frenzied ride propels a powerful melodic structure fed by a fleeting piano and a synth sounds among somber, apocalyptic streaks immersed by furious solos. It's very beautiful and very intense and has nothing to do with a lullaby, whereas Shine On Cassini, Shine On and its delicate piano notes roam in an ochre mist and is the prelude to the superb Echoes of Air. You remember Beyond Paradise? For a long time, I considered this wonderful melody from the excellent Walking with Ghosts as being the melodious highlight of EM. Well David Wright has just surpassed himself. Feeding on the oneiric finale of Shine On Cassini, Shine On, Echoes of Air caresses our ears like a delicious whisper of silk. It's a great melody shaped on a beautiful mixture of percussions and pulsations as well as in the breaths of a stunningly superb synth theme with silky lamentations of a solitary and extremely melancholic saxophone. Quietly, and by borrowing the brief piano notes of Shine On Cassini, Shine On, Echoes of Air ends its spiritual crusade among metallic hoops which evolve into a heterogeneous finale before disappearing in the cinematic approach of Sanctuary-Reprise.
Written after his Schallwelle Music Awards' performance, the second part of IN SEARCH OF SILENCE begins with the title track. It’s an enchanting melody of Arabian nights' style from which the synth refrain turns in hypnotic loops that begin with metallic sounding refrains and continues to clash under sweet ochred lamentations of a lonely synth. Fine arpeggios emerge like star dust from the mellotron induced mist. Carried along atop the waves of mist they sparkle and dance, embracing the rising tide with philharmonic winds and celestial choirs. Slowly, the title track In Search of Silence ebbs and flows with 13 minutes of shifting tempos, where Tablas, Taiko drums and percussion ride with a warm bass line and remain suspended in a dreamlike atmosphere. The rhythm is soft, suave and tinted with a romanticism worthy of the warm Middle Eastern nights. This epic title track supports an enthralling melodious structure that embraces several phases but remains fluid with a dramatic and symphonic synth theme which frees its versatile harmonious breaths, weaving a melodious structure to a thousand ethereal winds in a very beautiful mixture of fluty and nasal harmonies. A combination of sounds and harmonies that sing, dance and weave their way through an oneiric sphere filled with melancholic mist. Debussy in the Mist emerges from the title track with water lapping and the choirs of forgotten mermaids overflowing from the somber circular winds of a powerful lugubrious synth. A rhythm settles down on the slow pulsations of a sequenced bass line. It pounds with a furtive and delicate pace, crossing the voice, full of the emotions of a mysterious mermaid as the slow progression of Debussy in the Mist is slowly propelled by fanciful mellotron strings. The mellotron violins underpin a dreamy lullaby caressing us with the addition of fluty breaths which progress into the secret implosions of the dynamic synth theme of Alchemy. With its dynamic and symphonic intro, Alchemy whips IN SEARCH OF SILENCE into a powerful, unchained rhythm excursion. Sequences rise and expand the music into a heavy, pulsating movement under which sweet mellotron layers sing and dance. They grow in intensity, forging a bubbling rhythm which explodes on strong percussions. But even though the pace is on fire, David Wright succeeds in integrating a wonderful Arabian melody which is grafted to furious keyboards themes and scorching mini-moog solos. The rhythm forges a powerful, lively structure, and Alchemy pounds towards its conclusion with dynamic sequencing that crisscrosses with ethereal choirs into its soft, angelic finale. Ethereal mellotron flutes and glissading harp alongside solitary breaths feed the multiplicity of the gentle harmonies that surrounds Calmer Waters, yet another great piece of electronic music serenading, equal in beauty to the earlier Echoes of Air or Beyond Paradise. The music rises from an oceanic bed with electric piano notes shining at the full moon and becoming entangled with the lapping waves. They flow into our ears beneath the comfort of a lazy, chilled bass line and delicate percussions before merging with Sea and Sand, an ethereal track that brings a meditative approach with a beautiful but lonely mellotron flute asking questions of the emptiness. The gentle track builds delicately and finds its answer before disappearing into the intro of Worlds Beneath which continues the pensive exploration of Sea and Sand, but with fine pulsations and orchestration that skips delicately on one of the most beautiful synth line and themes you have heard. This epic space music track breaths beautiful and harmonious chords like the epic Cosmos theme to make even Vangelis envious.
IN SEARCH OF SILENCE is another masterpiece from David Wright. If we thought that this brilliant composer would never surpass his colossal works like Walking with Ghosts or award-winning Dreams and Distant Moonlight, we were wrong! This is 79 minutes of extremely creative and melodic EM, rich in sounds and superb arrangement all combined in themes and melodies that express themselves with stunning clarity within a wonderful and superbly produced electronic music structure. There are no timeouts, the titles link up and merge in a creative manner which is breathtaking. Every title brings its own signature, whether it’s cosmic, dramatic, rhythmic or cinematic - every title on IN SEARCH OF SILENCE is forged in emotive harmony and melody which works due to the extraordinary vision and poetic approach of the composer. I loved it, I adored every minute of it! As I walk on the thread of my life, I am thankful that of all those who have healed me and take good care of me, that David Wright is among them.
Sylvain Lupari (November 19th, 2011)
Available at AD Music