“Maybe a little less solid than Gold One, but by not much,Gold Two has of everything for all the tastes for the fans of Indra's styles”
1 Hypnodance 24:53 2 Sacred Hall 11:10 3 The Wingmakers 17:50 4 Celestes 22:07 Indra Music
(CD&DDL 76:01) (V.F.) (Minimalist Roumanian School)
With such a massive amount of music, it's almost impossible to not meet structures which are alike as much that we can confuse a title with another one, a rhythmic approach with another one. The important, and this Indra seems to have seized it, it's to know how to decorate the whole thing with adjacent movements of sequences that melt down again the bases and lead the listener towards another level. It's exactly the principle of this gigantic series of Indra. Written in 2007, the music of GOLD TWO is like a farewell to the minimalist rhythmic approach of the Rumanian musician by proposing more evolutionary structures and in the end more ethereal, exception made of Hypnodance which again starts the Indra magical sound world in beauty!
Bass sequences pound nervously in a phase of rhythm deliciously disassembled. Winds of ether and electronic allegories blow on this movement of sequences of which the rotation of the keys make our fingers drumming. Felted bangings and a pulsing bass line get in this spasmodic ballet which moves forward with more swiftness. These bangings, which resound like clacking from cyborg's hands, decorate the minimalist phase of Hypnodance which quietly goes to a good morphic techno. The signature of Indra shines in his convoluted patterns of rhythm from where get form generally rhythmic skeletons in parallel otherwise which change downright shape and/or orientation. And it’s the case here! While an immense wall of amber layers smothers a possible overflowing of rhythm, Hypnodance takes refuge in an isolated structure with keys which skip on the spot around the 10th minute. A more inviting structure to a dance of feet, our ears comfortably riveted to our earphones, extricates itself from this pond of gas iodized with a convulsive dance of sequences which skip awkwardly under the arcs of good synth solos. A synth moreover rich in effects which blow on the finale of Hypnodance and its structure which navigates between phases of solid rhythms and others more ambient. The introduction of Sacred Hall will plunge you into a state of meditation. A delicate structure of rhythm evaporates this effect with a strain of sequences which skip while climbing a long slope of which the upward curve seems so linear. Effects of gaseous percussions fool the ear, like a change of scene fools the eye, while Sacred Hall ends its rhythmic crusade in a luxurious astral finale. Star-spangled of multiple cosmic effects, the rhythm of The Wingmakers pounds weakly between these effects and synth layers which float like gases of ether. We dive literally in the good years of Klaus Schulze who was second to none to put to sleep our senses with a rhythmic melodic encircled by an immense veil of anesthetic mist. Everything is honeyed, everything is purely electronic of the vintage years. The 2nd part leads us towards these heavy and stroboscopic rhythms that Schulze used to sculpt in the TDSOTM years. But that always remains very deliciously electronics ambient with these layers of voices and these clouds of drizzle which surround the soft swiftness of The Wingmakers which is the big title of this album. Celestial wears well its title! It's a symphony for interstellar travelers which unifies to the movements of weightlessness of its travelers. It’s slow and morphic while being filled with sound effects worthy of EM and the eternal sound fountain of youth for ill-assorted tones. The slow orchestral sighs make of this title a magnetizing movement which brings us to the arms of Morpheus, even if sequences ring and inhale a movement pulsatory which will give the necessary momentum so that Celestial reaches its finale.
Always intrigued by so many charms in so much music, I always wait to hear the first faux pas of Indra's Archives Series. Except that it is the opposite which seems to occur. The more we move forward and the more we discover beautiful pearls, as here. Maybe a little less solid than Gold One, but by not much, GOLD TWO has of everything for all the tastes for the fans of the style of Indra, of Remy, of Klaus Schulze and the others.
Sylvain Lupari (February 9th, 2017) ***½**
Available at Indra Bandcamp