“In the end, it's a good 33 minutes of EM still inspired by TD in the 80's”
1 Dobhar-chú 6:38
2 Bright Future 5:55
3 Lost Lake 5:41
4 Hawking Radiation 5:53
5 Rogue Planet 3:33
6 Not afraid of the Dark 5:46
(DDL EP 33:29) (V.F.)
(New Berlin School)
Eagle (Synth Music) ends the year like he started it; with the power of his electronic music (EM)! Without inventing anything, the Dutch musician-synthesist offers a good E.P. exceeding 33 minutes. Offered only in download, ROGUE PLANET proposes half a dozen tracks conceived to charm his public while trying to attract other fans of this New Berlin School always inspired by the years of Johannes Schmoelling in Tangerine Dream. Six nice tracks related to a wild planet on the verge of devastation, based on the proposed titles, with an EM that is obviously not in danger of extinction.
The roar of a half-dog, half-fish beast startles our ears as soon as Dobhar-chú comes out of the speakers. This brief cry is followed by a barrage of chords and electronic effects. These elements vegetate in suspension, creating the sonic canvas the keyboard needs to sculpt this passage for the synth to lay down melodious solos. The track makes the most of its almost 7 minutes by adding a bass layer after the 3rd minute, creating a more dramatic texture where the ever-melodious synth solos heighten Dobhar-chú's sonic dynamics. The influence of Tangerine Dream has always been a dominant factor in the Dutch synthesist's compositions, and a track like Bright Future is soaked in it. Between two ends flooded with lapping water, the keyboard lays down a series of arpeggios sequenced in an ascending rhythm line. A static rhythm fed by nervous arpeggios that a mellotron caresses of its vintage waves. A discreet pulse from the bass layer supports this rhythm which gets more nervous when percussions are joining the sequencer and the bass line. A second jerkier rhythm structure adds a slight complexity that at no point hinders the melodic rhythm and that mellotron haze. Relatively peaceful, Bright Future takes the path of its finale with a more pulsating and driving rhythm. After an ethereal, almost New Age style opening, Lost Lake starts to beat on a structure knotted around a pulsating bass-sequence line and percussions whose wooden rattles add a tribal vision that is seconded by the hums of synthesized voices, a bit like in Tangerine Dream's The Atomic Season. I know you will remind me that I hated that, except that the impact is more nuanced on this track with threads of trumpets and saxophones that soak these vocal perfumes filled with tenderness and made with passion. A good track in the end! Hawking Radiation proposes an electronic ballad draped in this mythical mist on the impulse of a harmonic rhythm line of the sequencer. The haze turns into a string orchestra that now covers an ethereal melody. If you like the rhythmic surges of a sequencer throwing its marbles on a conveyor belt, the title-track offers one of those rhythmic visions developed by Chris Franke during TD's 1981 European mega tour. A violin caresses this repressed violence into a static state, uniting the 80's to the Quantum years. Orchestral arrangements are favored in the ambient melodies of this short E.P. which is ROGUE PLANET. They accompany the Berlin School's procession of Not afraid of the Dark of which the progression of percussions elements and the viral lullaby in the second part of the track gives us the taste to start again this last offering of Eagle (Synth Music). In the end, it's a good 33 minutes of EM that the friendly Arend Westra offers us.
Sylvain Lupari (December 27th, 2021) ****¼*
Available at Eagle (Synth Music) Bandcamp