“Drifting Loops is livened up by good sequencing patterns and cosmic vibes which lead the listener in a world of chill-out and soft techno”
1 Recurring Waves 5:19
2 Old Schooner 7:47
3 Phantom 6:47
4 Riddle 8:47
5 Harbour 4:04
6 Comet 6:24
7 Déjà Vu 6:37
8 Chilling Out 4:28
9 Waves'n'Base 5:20
10 Live? 6:13
(DDL 62:07) (V.F.)
(Chill Out, Techno and New Berlin School)
Some fine bright arpeggios fall harmoniously in an inverted carousel on the opening of Recurring Waves. A soft line of bass sequences, with slightly throbbing keys, creates a spasmodic tempo broken by jerked jolts which stirs nervously in a musical prism where nest a melody with its haunted airs. Soft but hooked on a feverish structure with broken jumps Recurring Waves opens this 7th opus of E=Motion with the same musical passion which characterizes the musician from Poland since I discovered Re-Trance-Mission in 2004. Exploiting in depth the charms and meanders of loops which dance around and drift on bouncy and hypnotic rhythms, Jacek Spruch delivers a harmonious album which listens to easily, courtesy of the delicious sound loops which float over 10 tracks forged in structures of chill-out, down-tempos and soft techno caressed by synth pads as much foggy than cosmic. The universe of DRIFTING LOOPS is focused on a multitude of loops which outline some harmonious rhythms where the melodies are melting into some sinuous hypnotic braids.
A lugubrious intro extends like a slow running in a musical labyrinth to open Old Schooner. At both soft and heavy, the oscillating pulsations which wave are adding a dark approach to a harmony which coos in the spectral breaths of a synth stuffed with twist which coil up in zigzag, such as curly solos singing of a vampiric way, on the jingles of blurred percussions. It's a nice track which catches the hearing, quite as Phantom and Déjà Vu which are slower, more hypnotic with a ghostly mood which smothered our ears with a synth to the heavy and strident lamentations. Riddle is more direct with its line of oscillating sequences which fit closely the intriguing reverberations and a methodical, hypnotic pulsation. Long sinuous solos, sounding like sonic lighthouses, are wrapping the beat which waltzes with dizziness and get lost in percussions resounding like clogs and which divert the hypnotic fragility of Riddle towards a slowly stormy rhythm where Jean-Michel Jarre's aromas are in hiding in a techno approach. This is a track which reveals a surprising heaviness with chiseled solos, like in Comet. Harbour is a good track. A kind of chill out with good percussions of which the felted echoes kiss a bass line and its momentums of sensuality that a synth covers of floating mist and solos. Solos which speak, when they don't sing. Chilling Out bears well its name with a soft rhythm which spreads a romantic sweetness with its lounge style mood and its undulating bass, while Waves'n'Base does more into techno with a line of bass which spits its humming chords in foggy wrapping synth pads. It's heavy and static. That remains linear, even if the track grows of a resounding heaviness, preserving thus this cachet of night club with tendencies of harmonious chill-out. Live? takes back the delicate sound prisms which opened Recurring Waves, but with a more mordant and heavier structure of loops.
With DRIFTING LOOPS, E=Motion continues to exploit quite well its variables structures in moods livened up by good sequencing patterns, both rhythmic and harmonic, and cosmic envelopes which lead the listener in a world of chill-out and soft techno. Moreover, we clearly feel the influence of Robert Schroeder on these rhythmic patterns which kiss the soft structures of New Berlin School. Soft rhythms well measured which move between slower structures, sometimes morphic, and heavier ones but always with a view to build melodious airs. It's a nice album which exploits what we expect; beautiful spiraled and wavy loops on a music situated between soft techno, chill-out and electro pop music.
Sylvain Lupari (August 22nd, 2009) ***¼**
Available at E=Motion Bandcamp