“Ambient soundscapes and lunar rhythms get mixed in a Cosmic Sound which is just a very nice ode to solitude and a symphony for stars”
1 Nova New 28:32
2 Veda 27:08
3 Alcyone 16:13 (Bonus track)
(CD 71:53) (V.F.)
(Ambient and meditative EM)
Initially realized in 1994, COSMIC SOUND is the outcome of a reflection by Indra on the art of composing ambient music. The Rumanian synthesist wanted at all costs to avoid falling into the trap of already-heard by developing two long structures, to which he would add new sonic motifs, of which the subtle developments would marry a delicate crescendo that would find its conclusion in a finale where the calmed spirits will wake up as peacefully as they fell asleep. Recorded in the autumn of 1994, COSMIC SOUND is Indra's 8th album who used this experience as springboard to deepen the genre and, by ricochet, his style. This new remastered edition, which includes a bonus track written in 2009, is masterised by Indra who corrects the technical misfortunes due to the limitation of the multi-track recorder of that time, restoring thus all the sonic depth to an intensely ambient album. But who has said that ambient music has no tempo at all?
This is what catches at once the hearing at the opening of Nova New. Soft synth pads are floating with a light movement of jerk, creating an abstract rhythm which covers itself of dense layers of a synth with so orchestral fragrances. Tears of violin float lasciviously on a delicate pattern of discreet rhythm of which the light jolts crosshatch the ambient plenitude. We hear heterogeneous noises and scattered knocks of percussions fallen in the limbo of this long ambiospherical tunnel where our ears are constantly on the watch. And quietly this cloud of noises, as well as the discreet rhythm, gets lost in some slender and sinuous morphic waves. The Mellotron spreads its meditative hold with the long and slow caresses of artificial violins which float and float over a cosmic sound fauna, reminding this slow interstellar waltz which encircled the stifling atmospheres of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The long movement of Nova New evolves by segments. So, after its intro undecided between the rhythm and ambiences and its deep intrusion in morphic galaxies, Nova New takes back this delicate introductory rhythm which streaks a new motif of meditative approach. There where the breezes of synths and the astral voices embrace a light metallic drumming. I hear musical souvenirs of Klaus Schulze's Picture Music to resurface, while the intensity to move up a notch. The choruses and clouds of ether are denser, more dramatic. The sonic palette which fed the ambiences of Nova New agglutinate in an intense ambiospherical fusion and hang on to a heavy pulsation which beats the ambiences and choirs in search of a second breath.
Veda is clearly quieter, if not more celestial. The tears of synth which get tangled and unite their ethereal singings are floating in a soundscape soaked with a strong esoteric pattern. They draw momentums of solitude and nostalgia on the fragments of a rhythm pleasantly magnetizing, forged in the beatings of manual and transic percussions. Veda takes on a more cosmic veil near the 10 minutes point. The movement is very ambient with synth lines which sound like the surface of a water does when we tickle it from the tip of our breath. Their waves make fascinating harmonies of which the tones get melting with the prisms of cosmos. We swim in full serenity while the Mellotron spreads its veils of artificial violins and wind instruments which float such as fluff pushed by the scorching heat's breezes. A voice rises up and its discreet singing infiltrates the scattered harmonies of finely pinched chords. And the percussions fall at the time 18 minutes, awakening our senses and a slow, suggestive rhythm. Knocks of anvil are tolling while that some superb strata of fake cellos smother the anger of the percussions of which the knocks roam more than they forge a rhythm, forcing Veda at its morphic envelope which will sing of her celestial veils until her last seconds. Very good! Composed in 2009, Alcyone is embroidered from the last moments of Veda's finale. The tone is more crystal clear. Crystalline arpeggios skip here and there, drawing the parts of an ambient melody of which the twinkling reflections glitter in the tears of the sweetnesses from a very melancholic Mellotron and ending so this sweetness morphic that is COSMIC SOUND; an ode to solitude and a symphony for stars.
Sylvain Lupari (March 2nd, 2014) ***½**
Available at Indra's Bandcamp