“I am always curious about Gustavo's works and he does not disappoint me here”
1 Song for David Lynch 6:02
2 Ocean of Mysteries 19:21
3 Portal Between Two Worlds 23:56
(DDL 49:29) (V.F.)
(Modular Dark Psybient)
It was only a question of time before the marriage between Gustavo Jobim and the label Cyclical Dreams was made. The wedding was consummated with the very dark PORTAL BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, an album of electronic music inspired by the work of David Lynch, notably the series Twin Peaks. And like the world of David Lynch, you may expect anything but that…
A reverberating synth line introduces us to Song for David Lynch. Already, the tone is dark with these tenebrous layers which inject an austere atmosphere where hides a gloomy melody thrown in synchronicity of a bank of fog by a synth with hybrid tonality. A good track unique to the complexity of the character that is Gustavo. The next track leads us in his territories where the modular is the king of an overflowing imagination. Starting from a borborygmic language, Ocean of Mysteries extends the multiple textures of amphibian percussions that hide behind the zigzagging movement of this regurgitating mass, creating an implosive pool that gives life to an ambient structure made of several layers of organic elements. Life breathes in a strange way on this track. There are these implosive surges that drive a slow mass forward where the synth dominates the ambiences with wormy melodies crawling like an invertebrate predator with prevalent slime. In fact, the imagination is at the service of our limits in this track with a strong psybient ascendancy and where the art of the modular is heard more than it is explained. At first listen, you may have a strange taste behind your eardrums. But the subsequent listenings reveal all the genius of the Brazilian musician-synthesist who reserves one of his best album for the Argentine label.
The more Ocean of Mysteries progresses and the more the synth dictates its conduct with a spasmodic vision of its harmonies that parade by jerky loops, creating another rhythmic option for this title that borders on 20 minutes. The intensity of the music is increasing a notch with its countless synth solos of good quality. And if we took Ocean of Mysteries to play it more in slow mode, it would probably give Portal Between Two Worlds, whose music, ambiences as well as organic and vocal effects correspond very well to the meaning of the title. Our senses float in an unknown land with an organic fauna filled with gurgling and/or stridulations played backwards. A shadow of bass hides in this texture and advances its shade until it reaches a rhythmic form, incompatible with the usual ones, in an intense modern psychedelic moment in the middle of Portal Between Two Worlds. A moment that can only mean that we have passed through the portal to the other side of this carnal psychedelic title. And on the other side of the portal? A little more lively, but nothing more!
I am always curious about Gustavo Jobim's works and he did not disappoint me on PORTAL BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. His universe is always complex, between dark ambient and abstract music, while showing a depth that gradually ameliorates a possible reluctance to his particular style. But as I wrote above, it was only a matter of time before this style ended up in the more and more heterogeneous universe of Cyclical Dreams.
Sylvain Lupari (November 23rd, 2021) ***¾**
Available at Cyclical Dreams Bandcamp