“React is a complex opus but teeming with rhythms slightly inspired by phases of Redshift in splendid Arc ambiences”
1 Depth Charge 3:54
2 Ice Fields 7:10
3 Sojourn 3:32
4 AxD 7:53
5 Veiled 4:52
6 Slow Hand 7:52
7 Messages 2:16
8 Lithosphere 6: 05
9 Blue Moon 6:23
10 React 7:04
11 Edge of Nowhere 6:33
(Tribal Ambient England School)
The music of Robert Rich and Ian Boddy is listened to with particular attention, so much the subtleties and nuanced modulations are numerous. Recorded during a concert within the framework of the 30th anniversary of the famous radio show Star's End, in Philadelphia on June 16, 2007, REACT is the 3rd opus of the Anglo-American duo. A work that allows them to explore their respective musical universe, thus adopting the ambient tribal structures of the American synthesist to the sequenced rhythms and the more moiré atmospheres of Ian Boddy.
Depht Charge opens this show with a floating movement. Moving and spectral waves extend charm and haunting to blend quietly with the crystalline sequence which introduces Ice Fields from the Outpost album released in 2001. This sequence is limpid and skips to another, inviting tribal percussions and a slight low pulsation which wriggle on a guitar with bewitching layers. A very good track which bursts on good percussions and a more biting guitar which carries Ice Fields in a very Redshift dimension. The glassy-hued sequences blend into the tribal vapors of Sojourn and his native flute which blows on brief eruptions of percussion in a sea of ethereal breaths. AxD is bubbling with sound dragonflies growing in a metallic universe of reverberating waves. The synth is intensely enveloping and deploys static layers in a world of heterogeneous sounds which bind to the echoes of Veiled's resonances.
Strange metallic pulsations mold the surreal cadence of Slow Hand, whose structure is inspired by Ice Fields and by extension Redshift. Another very beautiful title which soaks in an agonizing atmosphere with a rhythm as heavy as slow which runs aground on Messages and its heavy atmosphere. Lithosphere is a more playful title which charms with a light rhythm and ringing sequences running on the neck of a beautiful guitar with enveloping solos. A very beautiful track taken from the album of the same name published in 2005. The first echoes of Blue Moon are tinted with crystals of prisms. A light sequenced moment which is captivating because of a flute which will unite its songs to those of the sirens dancing in the deep blue. A good and very poetic title which demonstrates the absence of borders between Robert Rich and Ian Boddy, whose research and creativity are at the heart of their musical vision. Synth loops with pulsating impulses oscillating on stunning percussions, the title track flirts with ambiguity on an indecisive rhythm coated by a sharp synth for the diversity of heterogeneous sounds. Dance an ambient dance blown by reverberating waves and throaty buzzes, the rhythm takes shape with fine sequences which flutter on ramshackle cymbals and a guitar with deviant solos, accomplice of an equally eclectic synth. Another good track that marvelously portrays the colorful universe of REACT and its undefined rhythms that continue on Edge of Nowhere, from the Outpost album, with a scary guitar whose tears of metal give way to this metallic fusion of 'a good mix of percussions.
This 3rd collaboration of Robert Rich and Ian Boddy is a treat for those who like to explore parallel universes with always attractive harmonies. REACT is a complex opus but teeming with rhythms slightly inspired by phases of Redshift in superbly strange atmospheres, as with Arc. An opus that succeeds in getting out of our sound system of sounds that we doubted the very small existing.
Sylvain Lupari (04/18/08) ***½**
Available at DiN Bandcamp