“Built in the paths of a more progressive Berlin School, Adrift is stuffed of sound surprises and unexpected melodies which charm on disconcerting beats”
1 Function & Disorder 8:56
2 Cherry Pie 1:18
3 Zeitgeist 10:22
4 Unreality 6:12
5 Gruber’s Great Aunt 6:26
6 Bom Badda Boom 10:17
7 Adrift 14:45
Ricochet Dream RD040
(CD 58:16) (V.F.)
(Progressive EM, Psy-Trance)
Once again Ricochet Dream proposes us an album more than interesting; ADRIFT from Ideation. A new duet from England composed by Paul Nagle (Joined Intelligence Committee, Binar, Headshock, STDM, Far From Stars) and Air Sculpture's Pete Ruczynski. An artistic union that transcends the audacious boundaries that Nagle established with Andy Pickford in Binar and STDM projects.
The intro of Function & Disorder is in the purest Nagle tradition. We are immersed in his sound universe. Dark and intriguing, with vocal samplings mingling with percussive oscillations and caustic reverberations, the opening is without beats up until percussions from a pristine aboriginal world give it a little more rhythmic direction. Groping, the rhythm sets in. It emerges from a strange set of percussions accompanied by a fluty synth, plunging us into a sound fauna as dense as the jungles of tropical forests. Rhythm jerky with an echo of a convulsive sequence where oriental voice and flute mingle with a progressive heresy, Function & Disorder is reminiscent of Johannes Schmoelling's Wuivend Riet, the title. Cherry Pie is a short fluty interlude which accompanies us until the first notes of Zeitgeist and its intro of tribal percussions from the Middle East that a soft synthesized layer covers and which is accompanied by a keyboard with slightly swirled chords. The cadence accentuates delicately, wound up in a wave sequence which seizes Zeitgeist in a hypnotic vortex, giving free way to a whistling synth which wraps the title in a comfort zone with protective layers. A good progressive Berlin School tinged with ringing notes and analog sound effects. African rhythm percussions structure the frantic cadence of Unreality. Here again, we are immersed in the sonic delirium of Paul Nagle. The rhythm is sustained but is quite the opposite of the ambiences which randomly dot this frenzied movement which can easily be compared to a dance for zombies on acid. Whispers among synthesized metallic streaks, Gruber's Great Aunt is a very corrosive atmospheric track, courtesy of Phil Smillie on guitar who guides us to the awesome Bom Badda Boom. Nervous sequencer with bouncy chords, draped in a synth with angelic chorus layers, Bom Badda Boom gently rises while being surrounded by a host of sound effects which charm by two in this electronic sweetness which ends in an edible strangeness. Another very good track where complexity is easily combined with harmony. A romantic intro with a sweet piano which displays an unexpected sentimentality, the title-track begins with sensitivity. The piano notes are surrounded by a guitar and a synth with biting streaks, until a hopping sequence resizes a vaporous structure. Rotating, the rhythm is constantly pecked by a timid guitar and a less sentimental piano, plunging Adrift into a nebulosity structured of a tempered cadence where sound and vocal effects evaporate in the lamentations of a lonely guitar. This ends in those paradoxical but very musical structures of ADRIFT.
This first opus of Ideation is full of sound surprises on disconcerting rhythms, recalling at times the works of Joint Intelligence Committee and Binar; 2 musical projects where Paul Nagle displayed all his progressive and technoïd vision of contemporary EM.
Sylvain Lupari (June 2nd, 2009) ***¾**
Disponible au Ricochet Dream Store