“Again, the sweet and fine hypnotic beats of Indra in Kamalatmika are the bed of superb synth adornments”
1 She of the Lotus 21:26 2 When Passing Through 15:56 3 The Wheel of Time 19:00 4 Face in the Mirror 10:18 5 Let It Be 7:13 Indra Music
(CD&DDL 73:54) (V.F.) (Minimalist Roumanian School)
Five years after the tenebrous, and at times even stormy, Matangi, Indra comes back to tightening the loop of another one of his impressive musical projects; The Tantric Celebration. This 10th opus of a series initially planned in 12, and which will reach the 12 scheduled albums according to the recent obtained information, is however the last musical homage to the Great Cosmic Powers from the Hindu spiritual tradition. Born of a lotus flower which floats on the waters of the infinite ocean of Manifestation,
KAMALATMIKA,is the goddess of the wealth, beauty, the fertility, love and of devotion. If 5 long years separate the last two opuses of the series, Indra always remains comfortably installed on his long minimalist structures which are of use as an architectural bed to some divine interventions of synth layers, of sequences, of percussions as much seducing than sensibly well inserted and in the breathes of a Duduk, an acoustic instrument which adds a very ethereal touch to an already highly spiritual music.
It's moreover with the Duduk that gets organized the slow cosmic trip of She of the Lotus. A little as the breaths of a lonely saxophonist who unites his dreams to some layers of synth shimmering of astral voices, the music arises with this scent of celestial plenitude which is at the splendor of the soundscapes of the contemplativity music. The orchestral layers float as much that they derive with delicate sonic fineries which ring and sparkle in a state of abyssal blackness. Another silkier layer gets in at around the 7 minutes, giving birth to very beautiful airy solos of the Duduk while lies down quite slowly the hypnotic rhythmic structure of She of the Lotus. Fine sequences are fooling around in the background and the percussions structure this rhythm as slow as a leg of ballerina floating in time. At the same time, this lascivious and magnetizing rhythm takes a little more vigor. But the whole thing develops so slowly that this vigor installs the doubt in our head. A thing is sure on the other hand; the sound decorations invite each other boldly, revealing a long and charming sound river which reaches the bed of its torrent around the 15th minute with more incisive percussions which accentuate a heavier but not inevitably more fluid pace.When Passing Through puts things right with a nice and crystal-clear structure livened up between a bed of sequences with multiple ornamental pirouettes and structure of bass pulsations which follows with heaviness the clear velocity of this stream of sequences which untwist like a multiple routes of acrobatic nightingales. It's her, imho, that Indra is at his best! Spasmodic rhythm with an approach always slightly different, orchestrations in mode as dreamy as staccato, solos of synth discreet and effective and thin line of sequences which dance freely with our imagination; When Passing Through is well enough among the best music of the Rumanian synthesist.
I wrote earlier about percussions as seducing than sensibly well inserted, the very beautiful The Wheel of Time explains my quote! Between the poetic slowness of She of the Lotus and the candid nervousness of When Passing Through, The Wheel of Time settles down comfortably as being the jewel of KAMALATMIKA. The rise of the rhythm gallops finely under the whips of the percussions which click in a tongue of wood. Radiant, the synth illuminates this structure of very good and harmonious chirpings while the sequences ring, and others circulate like millipedes on an ardent ground, in accordance with this massive structure of rhythm and harmonies which weaves the 20 minutes of this key title in this 10th opus of the series The Tantric Celebration. This very bewitching rhythm falls in an aphasic phase around the 6th minute to be reborn with more vigor in its longest 2nd part. If the percussions are striking, the melodious ornaments of the synth inject an approach more than lyrical into this luxurious title which is worth itself the purchase of this album. I still have the shivers while my proofreading of this review gets connect with my memories of hearing it! Face in the Mirror is more in the Berlin School vein with a structure of rhythm livened up by an approach near the roots of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, but in their opposite spheres of creativity. Either more vintage for the TD sound of the synths and this nervous rhythm forged around bass pulsations and around nervous sequences in the vibes of Klaus Schulze. The structure of the rhythm is more in the liveliness of When Passing Through but in a jerkier way. Let It Be ends this opus as much enchanting as striking with a melodious kind of ballad, but on a structure too much livened up to catalog it as being a ballad, and where most of the fineries of the 5 titles here are condensed around a structure decorated of nervous sequences, of these perpetual bass pulsations and these keyboard chords which scatter their sound dusts with a divine approach of astral melody. The Duduk adorns this ballad with more panache and more melody in the air than in She of the Lotus concluding a brilliant comeback of Indra at the table of music writing. Indeed, a very beautiful album my friends which shows that in 5 years, Indra has knew how to maintain, I would even tell to surpass, because KAMALATMIKA is really different in tone and in spirituality than the The Tantric Celebration's first 9 volumes, his high level of writing and of musical poetry.
Sylvain Lupari (August 3rd, 2017) ***** SynthSequences.com Available at Indra Bandcamp