“A good album where each new listening makes us discover another catchy thing”
1 Memoria Technica 4:29
2 Posthuman 6:09
3 Singularity 5:49
4 Algo Rhythmus 5:15
5 Dystopia 6:40
6 Homeostasis 6:23
7 Collective 3:33
8 Mnemonic Encoder 5:29
9 Carbon Black 4:17
(CD-R/DDL 48:28) (V.F.)
(Synth-Pop, E-Rock, IDM)
I have listened at least half a dozen times to this latest album of Erez Yaary on MellowJet Records. This time, the Israeli musician was alone at the controls, unlike his baptism of fire's album Delta Evolution, made with Bernd Moonbooter Scholl in 2020. Why so much? I was not able to make up my mind, as the music is so versatile.
The melody that dominates the 4 minutes of the title-track is a first earworm in my discovery of MEMORIA TECHNICA. After an opening in futuristic mode, the track proposes a good rhythm with a little groove in it and an organic texture of the sequencer. Voice effects and/or chirps are stuck to the outlines of the sequences that structure this rhythm in concert with the solos of this synth weaving this melody. The synth enchants even more in the first half of Posthuman which will reveal its pulsating rhythm after the 3rd minute. Before that, the ambiences are injected with this apocalyptic synth wave in a very French cosmic tint and quite Vangelis with this bouncing sequence in the Chung Kuo, from the China album. And like a magic wand, the synth does a sleight of hand, and the rhythm is born with a good pulsating flow. The bouncing balls also have that white-noises' contour and are bypassed by psybient effects before the synth weaves an evasive melody. Singularity offers a good melody over two lines of sequences, one with clear-toned marbles, giving a line that stomps on the robotic stoicism of the other in a setting where science fiction lives on Earth. The organic feel of the jumping marbles has something to do with it, while the cosmic vision of the synth and the main ambient guides go for the futuristic aspect. Algo Rhythmus follows with a good 80's-90's synth-pop with all the sci-fi effects of the time. The rhythm is catchy and well supported by an efficient bass line. The static side of the sequencer and its mass of balls jumping intermittently offers a more interesting aspect, while the melodious side lives with a rather shy presence of the synth that still manages to whistle cosmic melodies. This is OMD and Thomas Dolby doing the Düsseldorf School!
Dystopia takes us to an exploratory level with an ambient track closer to the gates of the abyss than the panoramic beauties of meditative music. Scattered beats force a rhythm that melts into nothingness. Only a melancholic melody whistles in our ears with a variety of tones and effects that together give a good dose of poignant emotions. I liked this track as well as Homeostasis, another ambient track driven by a lush collection of sound waves and ambient layers. There is a rhythm. It drums or pulses without appetite in order to support a cosmic soundscape rich with effects and that haunting melody that makes you always want to listen to it again. Collective also lives from this membrane of ambiences in which hides another rhythmic melody of cosmic flavor so easy to remember. Erez Yaary sprinkles here the ambiences with sound effects that give another dimension to his music. The first part of Mnemonic Encoder is somewhat built on these phases of ambiences swarming with disparate tones, always electronic and cosmic, which compose the majority of the tracks, except for Memoria Technica, of this new album of the Israeli synthesist. Divided in 3 phases, Mnemonic Encoder reveals more its beauty in its rhythmic portion with good effects of percussions' echoes. These rhythmic phases always give impulses to the synths which then build its best moments of rhythmic melody. This is the case here, before Mnemonic Encoder returns to its ambient phase 90 seconds later. Carbon Black ends MEMORIA TECHNICA the same way the title-track started it, with a slightly less organic but still interesting rhythm.
Synth-pop combined with good electronic rock in phases of ambiences or rhythmic transfers sometimes progressive, MEMORIA TECHNICA is this kind of album where each snippet of melody surprises, either by its beauty and/or its tenderness inspired by the French cinematographic music. A good album where each new listening makes us discover another catchy thing and so on. Good EM by Erez Yaary which sounds quite good in shorter and structured tracks.
Sylvain Lupari (June 18th, 2021) ***½**
Available at Mellow-Jet Records