“Everything is so alike and yet quite different in those 4 minimalist structures of this album that makes hope for more music from Indra”
CD 23
1 Wobbling 26:30 2 Elle's Dream 11:39 3 On/Off 11:57
4 The Missionary 26:20
Indra Music (CD-r/DDL 76:28)
(Roumanian & Berlin Schools)
It's with a reverberation of a horn posted to the West that the sound effects of Wobbling get cemented in an introduction that doesn't announce at any point the fluid flow of a sequencer which is already busy building a pattern of rhythm subtly jerky and amply undulatory, like these Berlin School rhythmic trains. Cavernous breezes and sibylline layers spread an enigmatic reflection over this structure which releases a much more jerky flow. A synth line develops a fascinating vampiric melody that has all the appearances of a nursery rhyme for children of another planet. A bass pulsation makes hear the weight of its resonance appear in a context where frailty and heaviness clash. The synth hesitates between its solos, its sound effects and this melody that stigmatizes our dependence for a musical itch whereas the first confusion will be born of percussive effects which change the ambulant approach for a kaleidoscope of percussive and tone effects. The vision of Wobbling changes completely around its 10 minutes with this circular avalanche which swallows the last bit of melody. Surrounded by a veil woven in a psychedelic vision, the next minutes of this first title to open PLATINUM THREE are an escalation towards the creativity that Indra still has in his minimalist vision. The music is lively and rather catchy, like a semi-trance in a morphic techno, until the point of 20 minutes where an isolated sequence jumps in saccade to guide Wobbling towards a zone of mist and cosmic effects in a final breathing a little of the substance that had initiated it. Recorded in the years 13-14, PLATINUM THREE brings us closer to the last of this mega production of sound archives of Romanian musician/synthesist. And it's been a world of discoveries where everything is similar and where nothing is however so identical. It's also this kind of album that inspires fans of Indra with 4 long structures centered on hypnotic rhythms and whose slow evolutions serve the cause of the many layers of melodies and additional rhythms that Indra designs with his vision coated of a sensitivity and an understanding of the minimalist art in electronic music that is very personal to him. Elle's Dream offers a pattern of ambient rhythm that ripples in a horizontal zigzag trajectory. A line of bass sequences purrs deliciously, rising and falling in the jargon of electronic percussions that add a minimum of velocity to this minimalist structure. Oscillating slowly throughout its 11 minutes, Elle's Dream hosts timid and fragile arpeggios that sparkle like music bubbles, while others seem to fall from sky. The synth shapes solos which cry like these waves from a Theremin. A voice of astral goddess sticks its seraphic chants to it, and another line of arpeggios, more in mode of sequenced loops, dance in these atmospheres which even spread an anesthetic mist. Nearly 12 minutes can seem long? It's to know Indra badly who always leaves a nuance in the voluptuousness of his astral rhythm or in his melodious approach where an arpeggio is absent on some occasions. A very good title that didn't suggest it on its first listening. One immediately hooks on the noticeably spasmodic rhythm of On/Off. Catchy with its bass pulsations and bass drum, it opens with a line of nervous oscillations which jump feverishly beneath the caresses of good synth solos which get unfold in a same tonal symbiosis. Its the percussions that develop this approach of convulsive semi-rock and semi-dance with halos of arpeggios that fall in a choreography of ascending movements. The catchy rhythm and melody are at the rendezvous in this title.The Missionary is molded in the same spaces and visions as Wobbling. Either evolutionary with a nice collection of arpeggios and sequences that add up to needle throughout its 26 minutes. Its approach is timid with arpeggios dancing on a structure that goes up and down, like those wide loops of rhythm and melody of the Berlin School kind. The harmony of the chords tinkles as in the superb Mirage by Klaus Schulze. Velocity is adjusted to the Indra style when the carousel increases speed by one notch. The synth casts solos while other chords come in reinforcement, increasing the melodious mass of The Missionary. A soporific haze rises after 6 minutes while the percussions spew some vaporous effects while still increasing significantly the rate of rhythm which remains in its minimalist philosophy. And gradually, Indra enriches its musical texture by bringing layers of additional melodies, orchestrations and percussions more accentuated around the 13 minutes. Moment when sound effects flood the musical sky of The Missionary. The 16th minute brings us to an ambiospherical zone that one can imagine as being a tropical rainforest with an active tone fauna from which emerge sporadic elements of rhythms and of melodies that are familiar to us and which are reconstructed in a finale drawn in the elements of the 13th minute. Some great Indra, always pleasant to hear. To review! Sylvain Lupari (May 20th, 2019) ****¼*
Available at Indra's Bandcamp