“Kaleidoscope, like a musical dragonfly flirting with a macedonia of various styles that always meet in the middle of somewhere”
1 Space Cathedral 6:23
2 Reverie 7:18
3 Mission Control 8:56
4 Arcadia 5:22
5 The Brain 6:12
6 Interlude X 1:37
7 Behind the Curtains 4:43
8 Night Town 5:47
9 Time Goes By 5:37
10 Mister Sakamoto 5:18
11 Canadian Rain 4:16
12 Space Cathedral Reprise 2:45
(CD/DDL 64:12) (V.F.)
(Electronic Synth-Pop E-Rock)
KALEIDOSCOPE, like a musical dragonfly flirting with a macedonia of various styles that always meet in the middle of somewhere. This is the first sensation that emerges from this 14th Faber album. In fact, this last album of the German musician is based on the same patterns as in Monumentum where the different essences were one of his charms. Ditto here with 12 tracks where the New Berlin School style sways between EDM and mesmerizing tribal melodies.
And it starts rather heavily with Space Cathedral which brings us back to the perfumes of the very solid Dark Sun, released in 2015. Its heavy and slow rhythm, hammered by industrial percussions, is topped with a creamy layer of an old church organ. A delightful melody turns its spheroidal harmony, whose feeble tinkling chords are engulfed by a gigantic layer of cathedral's voices. An intense and very catchy title whose heavy ambiences literally bring us into areas of darkness. The power of Space Cathedral makes however little shadows for the continuation of the events of KALEIDOSCOPE which reminds me vaguely the cinematic intensity of the excellent Otarion's Extensive. Reverie follows with a down-tempo, very slow by the way, where Faber takes advantage of this introductory languor to place good percussive elements that sounds like an arpeggian snake cooing on a bridge-crane and weakened chords in tones of xylophone. The rhythm lights up a bit to become an up-tempo where the synth whistles its dreamy melodies. Mission Control is a long track that exploits its approach of rock fused to dance music with a lively rhythm structured on a mesh of a line of bass, which seems to chew everything that moves, sober percussions well in the tone and a line of sequences and its organic shadows. A structure of rhythm that dominates the 12 tracks of this last opus of Faber. NASA samplings come and go on this structure which also hosts a percussive melody as ephemeral as these voices. It's a good title that takes full advantage of his nine minutes receiving all the offerings of Ronald Schmidt, including a very good guitar solo. It's a cosmic rock filled with polar stars. Arcadia is a good ballad rich in tones and orchestrations with an oriental side assumed by chords of an Asian six-stringed that Faber pinches with a dreamlike delicacy. The rhythm is soft with good percussive effects that add more depth to the charm dimension of this delicate electronic ballad.
The Brain is in the EDM genre with this big bass line, a row of pulsating keys dancing with sober electronic percussions that don't look too bad in KALEIDOSCOPE. The synth is candid with a slow melody that runs after these samplings of xylophones. Speaking of samplings, there is plenty of voices on this title that tries a breakthrough in the cinematographic world with these dialogues between actors without body. The rhythm bifurcates towards a Funk trend of the Station to Station years and a little bit of rock. Here again, the percussive effects are woven into this intriguing charm while the synth and the guitar match their tunes in a catchy melody. Interlude X is a short and nice wordless serenade played on what sounds like a harpsichord built into the interstices of a synth. Between the baroque and a musical tale in a pull-tears' movie, it's a good moment of tenderness. Behind the Curtains hops on this always gurgling rhythm to weave an up-tempo mixed to a chill out ambient where niche melodies whispered by a voice of goddess who must not be too far from Venus. Night Town is a title built around the elements of its title, with a Hispanic vision. The rhythm is hopping and can make us tap hands on our thighs. It's at the level of the effects that the richness of the music is located, in particular these songs of spectra in the form of solos with perfumes of Aliens. The arrangements swing between Mike Oldfield and Tangerine Dream here. Time Goes By is a slow title. Almost a funeral march with a bass line that tickles the senses, like Patrick O'Hearn, and a synth whose orchestrations are based on both moving films and funeral arrangements. Canadian Rain is a little in the same vein but scatters nice limpid notes on the floor of nostalgia. Mister Sakamoto is a title as unusual as The Brain. Its heavy rhythm, a little awkward, and its opening is transformed into a joyous melody that reminds me of Gilligan Island. The resulting rhythm is tied inside a series of strikes on a xylophone. That's quite Mike Oldfield, especially with this fusion of percussive harmonies and arrangements. A guilty pleasure, as with several titles on KALEIDOSCOPE which in the end is a nice album of a Faber style.
Sylvain Lupari (August 19th, 2019) ***¼**
Available at MellowJet Records