“Effective and very attractive, A Scent of Jasmine powders its scents of old psychedelic Berlin School all over the Teutonic rhythms of the New Berlin School”
1 The Jasmine and the Beast 20:30 2 The Big Hole 15:02 3 The Art of Decay 19:33 4 Forgotten Home 13:23 SynGate | CD-r TI02
(Artwork=Link to Spotify)
(CD-r 68:28) (V.F.) (A mix of retro and New Berlin School)
Voltage Sessions was undoubtedly one of my very favorites in 2013. I liked these hypnotic rhythms which skipped delicately and so soberly in harmonies tinted of mist and with some rather creative, otherwise very catchy, synth solos torn between two eras. This second opus of E-Tiefengrund is built in the same mold. And it's probably not a chance if A SCENT OF JASMINE is also subtitled Voltage Sessions II. The inspiration goes back to a journey that Silvie and Mick von Tiefengrund made in June 2013 when they crossed the mining city abandoned of Pier. Fascinated by the environment, they decided to stop there, to take photos and shoot some clips. By pacing up and down the deserted streets where windows and doors drew sorrows, they scented a fine smell of jasmine floating in the air.
And like in Voltage Sessions, The Jasmine and the Beast offers a very good fusion between the new and vintage Berlin School where some finely jerked rhythms savored the harmonies of a synth with chants of psychedelic birds. The introduction, as well as its structure, both rhythmic and ambiosonic, brings us back inevitably to Power Station with a rhythm which skips awkwardly in an organic universe. Pulsations lost in hollow breaths and juvenile harmonies whistled by a charming synth settle a psychotronic mood ideal to introduce an onset of an uncertain rhythm. A little like a kind of cha-cha, but with jerky steps. Waterlogged pulsations, Teutonic percussions, organic reverberations and line of sequences with very discreet kicks furnish the rhythmic pattern of The Jasmine and the Beast which spreads its 21 minutes under the caresses of a synth and its solos as much melodious as its airs braided in imagination. The second half offers a poetry written in the shade of very harmonious sequences which are so abundantly embraced by twisted forms' synth solos and with vampiric shadows. And a little like in Voltage Sessions, it's mission impossible not to like it. The Big Hole is a quieter track. The rhythmic pattern is always very minimalist with sequences in the almost organic tones which skip like a static troop in the jingles of sober robotic percussions marinating with sounds of gases. The synth is drawing paradoxical moods where lines of choirs are floating with their somber secret harmonies, where pads of mist spread celestial ambiences and where nasal solos roam with their chants twisted in the fear of being aired. The only drawback is this too hasty cut that ends abruptly this rather meditative track. Let's say that it awakes quite hastily! The Art of Decay is to A SCENT OF JASMINE what Synthetic Vitality was to the first album. It's a long track where sequences with harmonies near the young innocence forge a fascinating oblique carousel. We float between two spheres with this hypnotic circular movement of which the hoops embrace an almost stroboscopic shape. And like everything around this second album from E-Tiefengrund, the synth shows a very progressive musicality with solos, harmonies and ambiences that are at the diapasons of confrontation. The sequences begin their rumbling around the 8th minute. We hear growls here and there, which rage on a whole rather harmonious pattern, bite the ambiences while that vintage twisted solos swirl like the guards of the revolt. And this rhythm seemingly very docile is evolving subtly in the aggressive steps of its sequences. It becomes more aggressive, but always remains so still, while the synths are drawing figures always very near the psychedelic scents of the golden years of the Berlin School. Forgotten Home traces the quiet rhythms and moods to the fragrances torn between psychedelic and New Berlin School which prowl all over A SCENT OF JASMINE.
One liked Voltage Sessions? Our ears are going to be delight by this A SCENT OF JASMINE. We cannot deny the very narrow link between these first two albums of E-Tiefengrund. The rhythms may sound so sober, so innocent by moments, that they always remain so attractive. The tones and movements of sequences are also magnetizing than on Voltage Sessions, while the synths are painting figures of ambiences, harmonies with solos which always color this attractive border between the New Berlin School and the vintage one. A border which seems to be the privilege of a duo extremely accurate in its minimalist approach. Effective and very attractive, we are where the scents of the old psychedelic Berlin School are floating all over the Teutonic rhythms of the New Berlin School. What could we ask for more? Sylvain Lupari (June 13th, 2014) ***¾**
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