“Organic, cosmic and pacific vibes are going quite well along in this Nocturnes II which is a good ambient ode just like the good ones from Steve Roach”
1 Celistia 23:13 2 Nocturnal Bloom 3:38 3 Starlight Grac 8:43 4 Heart of the Night 3:33 5 Indigo Sphinxes in Dark Canyon 3:10 6 Timelapse 7:20 7 Moon Apparition 20:20 Silentsun | mc005
(CD/DDL/Spotify 70:02) (V.F.) (Dark ambient music)
NOCTURNES II is my second rendezvous with the Spanish ambient music sculptor. And if Source of Present needed some listenings before convincing me, it's quite the opposite with this second Max Corbacho's opus about night-time darkness. From the first flights of the dark and anesthetic layers of Celistia one perceives with accuracy the slow movements of the night shadows. First of all, a little word about the artwork and its photos, taken by Corbacho in Aragón, which are breathtaking. Offered in both downloadable and CD formats, this latest album is a small find which easily accommodates the best atmospheric works of Steve Roach.
And it's very palpable with Celistia. From the top of its 23 minutes, the title gets unfold by slow ambiospheric caresses which flow like waves on an interstellar beach. Our ears perceive nocturnal murmurs which melt into an endless tunnel fed by wooshh and buzzing loops. Sonic aurora borealis take shape in this panorama while the tranquility gradually chases away these drones which are now melting in a concerto for idle locusts. Sounds of a mixed fauna get mix with the electronic structures in order to make transit the long sonorous carcass of Celistia towards a more organic soundscape. And always these layers which cover our amorphous state with this fascinating vision of aurora borealis whose colors enliven the effervescence of a diurnal fauna. The day seems to rise with the finale and another night settles down with Nocturnal Bloom which stands out from the dark landscapes of Celistia. The title is too short to elaborate on its more pellucid linear approach. Each title is linked into an immense mosaic of nocturnal mysteries. Starlight Grac falls on us with an incredible violence in its sonic texture. Acute lines shout their twilight spells into the random shapes of a bed of hollow breezes suspended between two avenues. Heart of the Night gives thus a direction to these misty breezes become anemic but whose intensity gets reborn in organic textures of Indigo Sphinxes in Dark Canyon. Ambiances, and the imagination helping, are sculpting a real descent which continues on Timelapse. Recovered by Moon Apparition, this descent becomes a real tidal wave in the 3rd part of NOCTURNES II. Drinking a bit of the elements and the organic textures of Celistia, Moon Apparition deploys its 20 minutes with a higher degree of violence. We perceive that droplets get scatter in the slow and immense sound waves from where an organic language is extracted. The force of the waves whistles with a fierceness retained by the very low sound ceiling of NOCTURNES II. A drama is played out in this panorama which is not make for sleeping but to contemplate the impact of the sounds, such as waves eroding shorelines, of a palette of tones of which the colors scribble, and even tear up, a canvas without end. Intense and passive with much cosmic elements than ectoplasmic, Moon Apparition lulls our bewilderment between turbulence and serenity up until the end of an ambient album which can make us relax, as making us react. That was my case!
Sylvain Lupari (August 3rd, 2018) ***½**
Available on Max Corbacho's Bandcamp