“Here's a Psybient digression on a path of a Berlin School pretty well dissected but always led by synths and sequences”
1 Mycena Chlorophos 5:50
2 Psylocibe Azurescens 6:17
3 Digitalis Purpurea 5:27
4 Stropharia Aeruginosa 5:54
5 Phillomedusa 5:20
6 Ipomoea Arborescens 5:43
7 Chlorociboria Aeruginascens 5:46
8 Teonanacatl 5:50
9 Lysergamide 5:01
10 Lophophora Williamsii 7:28
(DDL 58:39) (V.F.)
(Psybient + Berlin School)
Lensflare decides to deviate a little of his musical style to kiss the psybient. But as he specifies; it's a digression of the kind in a vision always stuck to Berlin School. And it's important to know, otherwise we wonder about the evolution of the 10 titles, that's also is new, that make up MYSTICUM ENTHEOGENA. Otherwise we ask ourselves where is our new Italian darling of Berlin School EM is going?
This new adventure begins with Mycena Chlorophos. Here, the sequences chirp with a beautiful dangling that is waving in a mass of sounds wadding filled with this Berliner haze. The chirps lean toward an organic hue, while laconic pulsations and electronic percussions cement a rhythm whose paradoxes in the beats converge in a static movement. If the sequences continue their organic tweets, the rhythm fades slightly and brings Mycena Chlorophos into its ambient phase. The title is reborn soon after with a more coherent rhythmic approach. After an opening filled with souvenirs difficult to identify, Psylocibe Azurescens deploys a good line of sequences that undulates and flutters in this pool of memories always difficult to recognize. A good Sci-fi title with perfumes of Jean-Michel Jarre, if not Alluste. The further we go in MYSTICUM ENTHEOGENA and the more we notice that the music has the same DNA, especially in terms of sequences and structures of ambient rhythms. As in Digitalis Purpurea and its movement that sways in a void filled with sound cracks from which emerge curious bugs in tones. The sequencer digs an opalescent rhythm line that floats and waves with the same harmonic vision of the first two titles of this Lensflare digression. Stropharia Aeruginosa stands out with a more convincing rhythmic vision that jumps with kicks in these veils of fog and of chthonian voices cleverly camouflaged in this album. Phillomedusa is a very beautiful title here. In a very cinematic dramatic vision, the synth throws pads that come and go, like the eye of a laser spying any gesture, however minimal it is.
This Blade Runner approach, which will crisscross more openly the second half of this album, gives a desirable apocalyptic depth to an album of this caliber. The sequencer takes care of the rest weaving a rhythmic melody that drifts and undulates weaving a good worm-ear. A very good title in this album that must we must give a chance to tame before making a judgment. Another delicious title, Ipomoea Arborescens rolls its multiple lines of rhythm in an oscillatory pattern that sways in a psybient decor enhanced by nice percussive effects. Static, the rhythm is tied around these knocks and muffled percussions that tie well with the ripples of the sequencer lines. And the synth, always a little frightening, injects more and more a sound mixture that sounds a bit like the ambiances of the Blade Runner movie, music included. Chlorociboria Aeruginascens begins with a lunar serenade approach before taking a journey back in time with the rhythm and ambiances of Jean-Michel Jarre's Magnetic Fields. Teonanacatl gravitates with its suspended rhythm and its fluttering sequences that vibrate on the spot in an ambience that sticks to those of Ipomoea Arborescens. Lysergamide begins with a tearful language of the synths whose tunes have this hue of specters shouting at the top of their voices on a moonlit night near a convent of young virgins. The sequences take on an organic tint while always are roaming these oblong sounds beacons from the synth whose circular and undulating chants always remember this Vangelis' universe of electronic perdition. A rhythm is forged, but always remains in the ambient domain. Lophophora Williamsii finishes this first trip of Andrea Lensflare Debbi in the psybient territories with a splendid lunar melody. The arpeggios flow with a beautiful harmonic fluidity on a bed of sinister ambiences where start to pulse weak and moody beats. But it ends pretty abruptly and without any fade-outs. Without doubt the aim reached of Lensflare. This, I like a less, but the effect is there. Regardless, Lophophora Williamsii is a very good morphic lullaby ending an album that will surprise many. A nice discovery that unites a parcel of the Psybient moods to some always melodious rhythms of the New Berlin School.
Sylvain Lupari (November 11th, 2019) ***½**
Available at Lensflare Bandcamp