“This opus makes the apology of the art of sequencing in a context where imagination creates above all a fascinating music”
1 Event Horizon of Sequences 11:46
2 Orbiter 6:43
3 Metal Heart 10:02
4 Sequential Glimmer 8:17
(DDL 36:50) (V.F.)
(Based sequences EM)
The universe of DigitalSimplyWorld feeds on his heterogeneity! After a film work which revisited the abysses of Blade Runner and an ambient work where everything becomes subtly music, the mysterious Polish synthesist comes back with an album where the sequences return to the cradles of the art of the sequenced rhythms. And beyond! ESSENCE OF THE SEQUENCES presents 4 minimalist movements where the sequences dress on forms as different as the rhythms. The music waves essentially towards rhythms but also towards melodies where the keys ring like strummed anvils, giving quite another vision that we could have about the role of sequences in the universe of EM.
And it's in the impetuous movements of Steve Roach's Empetus and Stormwarning periods that the unbridled rhythm of Event Horizon of Sequences polishes our ears and makes us dance of the head. The structure leans on series of sequences which run at a brisk pace, entailing their shadows in a swirling rhythmic maze where roam attractive and soothing layers of a rather esoteric synth. The rhythm is hard and pure. No subtlety! Even when the sonic storm calms down, the agitators of ambiences and jumping keys are raging and kicking in cascade in a still pattern which leaves more charms to these synth pads filled so much with the aromas of Roach. This is a great track and one of the best in 2014! Orbiter proposes another kind of rhythmic structure with an intro which resounds like a majestic irascible piano. The rhythm turns around a brief cyclic ritornello with a repetitive movement which amasses some spectral harmonies forgotten in the sufferings of the anvils. One would say a prisoner who jogs in a cell too small for his ambitions. The movement becomes even more bouncy with the addition of other sequences which agglutinate and walk faster for a short period of time before that Orbiter finds again the paths of its obsessing sonic walk, but this time with fat chords to big resonant oscillations. The kind of oscillations which we also find on the very heavy and powerful Metal Heart, by whom the cyclic beat is restricted just as much but which gets dressed of an attractive heaviness. A headache is to be planned if we put the volume too loud! And I have to inform you that I made heard this track to 2 of my friends and they find it very aggressive. I think they are right! The intro of Sequential Glimmer is a mixture between the moods of The City Dark Synth and the strummed rhythm, more furtive this time, of Orbiter. Quietly everything is taking shape. The crackling of fire and the drumming of sequences converge on a pale and nervous structure of rhythm of which the shivers flounder under oscillations which have a very subtle sound of didge. There is a fine dramatic gradation in the moods which perspire a little those of Flashpoint or the Pacific School style with an attractive crescendo, as rhythmic as sonic. A crescendo which crashes in an intriguing ambient moment before retying with a little disordered finale.
Who says DigitalSimplyWorld, says EM which transcends the usual patterns with a clearly less commercial and resolutely more instructive approach. ESSENCE OF THE SEQUENCES quite means. It's an album which makes the apology of the movement of sequences, their airs as much as their rhythms, in a context where the imagination, the boldness and the resourcefulness replace guitars and voices in a music which aims to be so as well free as totally fascinating. This is why it is necessary to greet the creativity, without any commercial bounds, of the artists such as DigitalSimplyWorld. And needs to say that Event Horizon of Sequences is quite a great piece of EM!
Sylvain Lupari (September 13th, 2014) ***½**
Available at DigitalSimplyWorld Bandcamp