“Stay is a very imposing ambient opus where Ian Boddy remains a musician for whom a challenge becomes a banality”
1 Waken 8:18 2 Haze 9:41 3 Vesper 10:02 4 Shore 9:05 5 Aeolian 9:30 6 Stay 9:09 DiN DDL19
(DDL 55:48) (V.F.) (Dark ambient floating music)
A little bit as Derwish versus Unwound, STAY is the dark side of Momento. During the recording sessions of the 5th album of Boddy/Reuter, there was a huge bundle of recordings and tapes lost in the final selection of Momento's tracks. A package of lost ideas that Ian Boddy reworked and mixed in a clearly more ambient approach. Even if the album is totally stripped of rhythms, our senses travel with the slow impulses of the synth lines and of their frequencies of the twists which get intertwined like in a choreography where the dancers are carried by the cobwebs of the cosmos. And this, even if Momento has absolutely nothing to do with the intersidereal space. My ears have found here a very nice album of ambient music with a fascinating harmonious aspect and with some poignant passages which hide themselves behind a heap of synths lines and/or the wanderings of Markus Reuter's guitars who seems to me less present on this other side of Momento.
A murmur of synthesizer cries at the opening of Waken, dragging in its nostalgic sound furrow a tiny quantity of lines among which the whimpering and the solos are more discreet and a little darker. This duality between the colors of the floating prayers of the synth assails our ears with the harmonious charms of the Ondes Martenot and plunge our senses into a profound astral meditation. We have now entered in the world of STAY. Haze also floats in a cosmic cocoon, but with more slowness and more intensity in its elongated movements. The effect of weightlessness and of floating in space is very striking. Vesper is also intimidating for the ears than the previous tracks with these slow movements of cosmic drift which leave a huger imprint, due to the presence of the of the Serge Modular swooshes. The movement reaches a summit of sound intensity unique to the grave tones of the Serge Modular, a synth which can offers two faces, two contrasting harmonies in the same furrow. Shore is just as much august with its perfumes of Steve Roach and of Michael Stearns in the same fight where the sibylline harmonies have some silvery reflects. It's a very beautiful title, my preferred one, where our subconscious can perceive layers of voices as much discreet than the murmurs of the fairies. In spite of its sweetness, Aeolian develops with an intensity which reaches new barometers here. Very full of imagery, the title takes off softly, collides violent breezes and closes as it has opened. Stay is the most disturbing title here with its heavy hummings which cross the areas of quietude. A little like a black sky which threatens the tranquility of a meditation site.
I have found this STAY very imposing! Ian Boddy pursues here this adventure of meditative exploratory, with a very cosmic spirit, that he has developed in a more supported way with the coming of his Din DDL Bandcamp site. Always very skillful in the art to exploit the borders of the ambient music with a touch of musicality, due to the uncountable floating solos, and with a melodious side which suits becomes very well to this fascinating adventurous idea to dismantle and to amend a version and a vision of a previous work, Ian Boddy remains a musician full of resources for whom a challenge becomes a banality.
Sylvain Lupari (September 27th, 2017) ***** SynthSequences.com Available at DiN Bandcamp