“It's a splendid album whose cinematographic range belongs only to our illusion”
1 Troglodyt 4:08
2 Anamnesis 6:05
3 Arche 7:09
4 Idola Tribus 5:16
5 Idola Specus 6:24
6 Idola Fori 6:46
7 Idola Theatri 6:35
8 Logos 4:10
9 Arete 4:53
10 Panta Rhei 5:12
(DDL 56:42) (V.F.)
(E-Rock)
Piano notes falling with hesitation, with sorrow, embrace our ears as Troglodyt opens. From then on, the panorama of an awakening city assaults the ambiences with a voice over, vehicle noises on the streets and weeping filaments coming out of the synths. A layer of bass adds a veil of melancholy to those piano chords that now run with that grace to brings us a delicate harmonious shroud. Playing on two sides, Troglodyt searches itself between its mood of gloom and its desire to express its freedom. We are very far from the fertile lands of electronic industrial rhythms of MiDi BiTCH with his most recent album SEQUENZ. Built on a philosophical principle of human consciousness, this new album by Fredy Engel will surprise many by its musical orientation, much more advanced, even creative than the last MiDi BiTCH albums which are propelled by electronic rhythms in industrial ambiences of Synthwave style. A concept album. A soundtrack to a movie that belongs to our perceptions with a foray into a scarlet comic book, this SEQUENZ is simply mind-boggling. Here, the music is built on parameters that sound a lot like Vangelis without having the same musical flavor. There are some winks to the music, notably in the color of the metallic synth layers, to the Greek legend, but without more. The rest is surprising. A bit like if MiDi BiTCH had reached a creative maturity quite unexpected. So much so that after several listenings I remain always as much seduced as at the first. At the end, it's a splendid and very musical album whose cinematographic range belongs only to our illusion.
Loaded with synth layers filled with metallic drizzle, Anamnesis offers a slow and heavy structure. The resonant chords of the bass line cause muffled explosion effects, giving more tone to the percussions that come in spurts and structure a chaotic rhythm. The music and the atmospheres are very rich, here as everywhere in the 57 minutes of this download-album. It sounds like a dystopian film music with more morose ambiences, due to these synth tears and their thin more melodious threads that whine in the effect of a perpetual drizzle. The sequencer unravels a discreet circular rhythmic thread, further amplifying the dramatic effect of the music. Arche offers a livelier rhythmic pattern which stimulates more the neurons than the feet with sequences of pulsations that beat and rush in each other's grooves. It sounds like little steps going around in circles, or like those throat slaps that some noise makers make. The bass is resonant, as well as these synth layers whose industrial aromas give a new dimension to SEQUENZ. It's a line of lively pulsations, Pulsar style of Vangelis but in a lower tone, which opens Idola Tribus. These repetitive beats come back relentlessly, like a long elastic rhythmic lasso, under bluish synth waves. Percussions and the echo effect of the sequences add a more punchy dimension to the rhythm. It's a good and very dark electronic rock! A beautiful slow and bewitching track, Idola Specus proposes a floating rhythm which undulates under bass pulsations and sober percussions. The synth weaves an electronic dialogue with chirps that twirl in symbiosis with the floating undulations. They sometimes stretch out in twisted filaments. The tonal setting is grandiose with nice synth effects, some of which fascinate with a brilliant percussive orientation. The synth layers glide with a nostalgic momentum, projecting an apocalyptic aura and recalling a dystopian Vangelis universe.
Small steps of the sequencer run in all directions to introduce the more atmospheric structure of Idola Fori. The track flows on layers of sizzling whose organic texture flirts with the mechanical. The rhythm is a kind of discontinuous pattern with more sustained appearances of the sequencer, but the music is mostly more relaxed here. While flickering arpeggios here and there add a touch of hope, the music's backdrop remains ochre with a few brightening, preserving that subtle touch of city on the decline that surrounds most of the album's tracks. Idola Theatri also features a pulsating bass line sequence that structures a lively rhythm that small metallic steps surround with a hasty gait. It's simply delicious for ears hungry for sounds from another dimension, and there's plenty of that on this latest MiDi BiTCH album. There's an elastic boomerang effect in this rhythm structure that flirts with the more rock-like Berlin School model. It follows an ostinato and subtly spasmodic bend while accompanied by keyboard riffs, giving the impression of vivid orchestrations cut in staccato form, and follows a zigzagging circular tangent under layers and synth lines whose dark colors subdue an ochre ambiance. It's quite easy to get hooked on Logos' electronic rock. Its circular sequencer string activates a pulsating bass rhythm that is solidly bludgeoned by good electronic percussions. The envelope and the melancholic harmonies of the synth have this very Vangelis flavor that is also found throughout the 10 structures of SEQUENZ. Waves of buzzing sounds, pierced by bluer glows, initiate the atmospheric opening of Arete, which has a bit of the dystopian and apocalyptic envelope of Troglodyt. Its rhythm is heavy and slow with a circular line of the sequencer that traces a rhythmic melody that makes us zigzag under a huge layer of synth whose partial scarlet keys insist on the end of the world character of the music. With its limpid arpeggios spinning in a harmonic carousel, Panta Rhei perfectly endorses the meaning of its title. The pulsating rhythm is gently tied to clattering percussion effects and its panorama is filled with those azure rather than scarlet synth waves. While some still lament, others are more nuanced and inject that ochre ambiance that belts SEQUENZ. There is a subtle emotional crescendo behind this track that admirably concludes this very great album of MiDi BiTCH. By far his best and a very nice surprise if melodies, rhythms and pre-apocalyptic, and certainly dystopian, atmospheres stimulate your need to discover and be in tune with the happiness of listening to very good electronic music of high level.
Sylvain Lupari (Septembre 10th, 2022) *****
Available at MiDi-BiTCH Bandcamp