“With this album, Interconnected gives new powers to the so-called dark ambient music”
1 Multilevel 10:11
2 Grains of Emotion 8:10
3 Harmonic Merging 5:28
4 Mystery of Being 10:40
5 Quasi Chaotic 5:25
6 Questioning Everything 3:45
7 Structured by Airwaves 7:06
8 Evolving Reality 7:09
(DDL 57:55) (V.F.)
(Dark Ambient Music, Drone)
It's been well over 10 years since I last heard a new musical expressionist canvas from Interconnected. This duo comprising Bakis Sirros and Ingo Zobel had however released Extended Environments in 2019 on Neotantra. Besides it is while doing my research on GRAINOPHONICS that I noticed this missing album for need of review. But is it really necessary? Did we miss something? First of all, we are very far from Current Flow! This does not make GRAINOPHONICS uninteresting. On the contrary! Behind a palette of 8 tracks, averaging 7 minutes in length, the duo reshapes its universe of dark ambient music by giving it either a more harmonic vision, an organic vitality or a ghostly rhythm structure. The tonal fauna is creative and immersive and is best enjoyed with the ears inside a headset. A beautiful adventure in sounds and emotions traced in the art of Eurorack modular analog synths. And yes, I have to talk about it😊!
It's with the echo of distant beats, without rhythmic consequences, that Multilevel timidly makes its appearance between our ears. The echo effect filters a resonance that links these beats, creating a superficial rhythm that attaches to a superb bass layer. Delightful to the ears, this bass layer runs through a howling windstorm that will keep growing while driving the beats of the introduction. At first anodyne, this ghostly rhythmic source carries the 3 wind mutations of Multilevel, always with a higher level of intensity, over its more than 10 minutes. These apocalyptic winds raise a cloud of dust to begin Grains of Emotion. Rustles, whispers and industrial noises feed the progression of this track that is firmly established on implosive surges. Harmonic Merging is a short track layered with glitches and white noises in an organic envelope. Circadian beats accompany its procession which is refined with nice and rather moving synth layers. A very good track that justifies its place between two long atmospheric movements. The one of Mystery of Being knows an intense beginning with hybrid tones layers circulating with their implosive sinuosities. The title proposes a gradation in its intensity and the development of its tonal fauna which leaves us on the alert, to finally lead to an organic sanctuary where the music is covered with lapping.
Behind an opening propelled by warmer winds, Quasi Chaotic admirably carries the weight of its almost 6 minutes. Knocks that we hear in a factory rise to our ears. A shadow of pulsating suction slips in behind each of them, creating a rhythm machined into a rubbery texture. After a short passage filled with tinkling arpeggios, Quasi Chaotic finishes strong with a tasty industrial post-rock approach. Another big moment on GRAINOPHONICS! Especially since it precedes the splendid Questioning Everything. This short track evolves in looped phases with an amazing melody weaver of earworm that reminds me the ambiences of Western Spaces, that magnificent album by Kevin Braheny, Richard Burmer and Steve Roach. Structured by Airwaves extends its atmospheric layers that unfold by their multiplication and by rhythmic vibrations. These beats create a climate of paranoia with a form of croaking that can easily be mistaken for secret murmurs or rustling. Evolving Reality puts the album back in its context of dark ambient music with cavernous breaths that float like a smell of despair over a structure whose immobility allows one to hear noises and moans of a secret society linked to the power of the earth.
The pleasure grows by abusing the good things, like going to the discovery of GRAINOPHONICS. With this album, Interconnected gives new powers to the so-called dark ambient music. Respecting the premise, the duo adds a rhythmic texture activated like a lava flow with its noise annihilating what is in its way. Imaginative, melodious and invasive, the pleasure is captivating with the use of headphones. Very good album from Bakis Sirros and Ingo Zobel.
Sylvain Lupari (December 3rd, 2021) ****½*
Available at Móatún 7 Bandcamp