“This titanic edition proposes nothing less than the best of the 2 universes of a work which lets discovered with wonder”
Revisited Version 68:59
1 Caspiquan Part 1 (Liz In Mink) – ReVisited 9:04
2 Purjah – ReVisited 11:10
3 Chalamé – ReVisited 11:23
4 Caspiquan Part 2 (Liz At The Sea) – ReVisited 11:14
5 Khatroo Industry – ReVisited 14:00
6 Agens – ReVisited 12:05
Original Version 77:11
7 Caspiquan Part 1 (Liz In Mink) 12:21
8 Purjah 11:11
9 Chalamé 11:14
10 Caspiquan Part 2 (Liz At The Sea) 11:11
11 Khatroo Industry 13:15
12 Agens 17:57
Extra Bonus Track 64:11
13 Caspiquan Part 2 (Liz At The Sea) - 2012 Wild Mix 11:11
14. Kathroo Industry - ReVisited - Alternative Version 13:59
15 Purjah - ReVisited - Alternative Version 11:16
16 Caspiquan Part 2 (Liz At The Sea) - ReVisited - Alternative Version 11:17
17 Agens - ReVisited - Video Trailer Version 5:15
18 Purjah - 2012 Autobahn Mix 11:11
(2CD(r)/DDL 250:20) (V.F.)
(Progressive & Experimental Ambient Music)
ELEVENTH SUN - Revisited follows the same line of thought as the remixed version of 100 Million Miles Under the Stars - ReVisited. Also produced by the electronic music (EM) label SynGate in 2012, this album by Michael Brückner inaugurated the brand new division of the German label; Luna. A division that had, and still has, the aim to promote a more atmospheric, darker and sometimes more experimental EM. Exactly like this MB album that I still haven't heard. At the time I just wasn't attracted to the genre at all. This 10th anniversary edition is also presented in a 2 CD(r) HQ format, including the 2 versions, and a 1 CD(r) HQ edition which contains the version reworked by the guest musicians. Except that here, ELEVENTH SUN - Revisited is a mammoth work with more than 3:30hours of music, of which 64 minutes just in extra bonus tracks that are only available in digital format, when buying one or the other version of this other 10th anniversary album of the German musician. This time, I took the time to savor every minute of this impressive album where the 2 versions balance the strengths of one against the weaknesses of the other.
A sonic burst spreads its shadow in the opening of Caspiquan Part 1 (Liz In Mink), radiating a multitude of waves and spectrums that intertwine and merge in the dark horizon of this new version reworked with ZenSugar. Purely atmospheric, this track highlights these drones that vibrate in a landscape where iridescent waves undulate, as if to waltz without a companion. Lost chords are swallowed by these buzzing drones, fanning a listening that is delighted to hear a form of ambient procession built on chords that croak in an organic language. Other layers are always added, coordinating a quietude disturbed by these insistent woosshh whose igneous colors add a passive intensity to a panorama rich of its tonal colors. A dreamy texture that would make the rays of the cathedral spiral of Michael Stearns' Chronos album pale, Purjah literally changes skin here. In fact, the reworked version with Robert Rich is the cornerstone of this ELEVENTH SUN - Revisited. Here, no scroll march that so obsesses the senses, but an energetic structure that has nothing to do with the original version. The buzzing winds of its introduction vibrate for a longer distance, just 30 seconds longer, before turning into a rhythmic structure that sways like a wild horse does its kicks to keep its freedom. Translucent waves with a mechanical edge hover over the rhythm, which solidifies its structure with a good bass line and fascinating percussive chords that have that minstrel limping gait to them, like the central element of the rhythm. Synth blades cut through the moods with slightly shrill rotations, giving an apocalyptic depth to this intense track that ends in a dramatic atmospheric broth. Mathias Grassow lends his visions to Chalamé - ReVisited, a track that is in tune with his style with turbulent ambient breezes propelled by strong gusts of wind that makes fly a handful of bats. Other winds whistle and whip our ears above these resonant drone waves that float like radioactive waste. The percussions that start to thunder 30 seconds after the 2nd minute brings a dramatic dimension to this track that in the end is much more intense and rhythmic, passive certainly, than the original version. Caspiquan Part 2 (Liz At The Sea) - ReVisited is very different from its original version. Revisited with Chinese-American artist Forrest Fang, its atmospheric bed is warmer, less droning. As long as its opening is seraphic with synth waves flowing like a fall without energy. The texture is colored with opaline hues that brighten even more when the guest artist puts his tribal stamp on it with a concert of chimes that sound like Chinese ecclesiastical chant. The tinkling creates a kind of luminous procession that leads us into a more ambient second part with waves that hum slightly. They lazily undulate until Tibetan bell tinklings add a more meditative and spiritual vision to Caspiquan Part 2 (Liz At The Sea) - ReVisited. The alternate version is built on more droning wind squalls, diminishing the lyrical impact of the chiming ritornello.
Markus Reuter's whirring guitar texture gives to Khatroo Industry - ReVisited an industrial-organic feel. The essence of the original version remains intact with this dark structure that crawls and sways like a menacing shadow. The bass line dictates this hypnotic rhythm that rises and falls without sequencer or percussions. This structure undulates with a slow, sneaky gait. Gone are the cadenced tinklings of the original version, replaced by metallic howls and screaming guitar string abrasions. Walled voice effects and a more moiré color of a synth shadow project a sibylline aura to this slow structure that evolves like a descent into the corridors of the underworld. The intensity peaks in an intense finale where our ears try to discern Reuter's influences on this track, which is very good by the way, and which is sometimes scary and poignant. Its alternate version, still done with Markus Reuter, is purely atmospheric-industrial. Agens - ReVisited is reworked according to the visions of Jan Peter Schwalm, a musician-composer of more ambient music who has already collaborated with Markus Reuter and Brian Eno, among others. The opening of the track is composed of bugles of an ocean liner violently splitting the waters. If the original version offered some nice rhythmic structures hidden behind a wall of monastic chants, this newer is more ambient and dark with long drones whose anger rushes towards big resonant percussions. The choirs maintain their place in the 2 versions. Except that this one, shortened by 5 minutes, puts more in relief these drones which buzz with an intensity which touches a passive violence. I prefer the original version, which is some great Michael Brückner by the way. A word about Purjah - 2012 Autobahn Mix? It's cute as hell! The rhythm is built on a line of arpeggios that bounces harmoniously over a rubbery pulsating bass line that hops and hobbles systematically. These two rhythmic accomplices leap in symbiosis on a mechanical rhythm which shows some delicious failures, here and there. A very beautiful synthesized melody, digging of earworm, comes to haunt periodically our ears while the layers of organ remind indeed the beginnings of Kraftwerk. Impossible not to fall under the charms of this simply delicious track!
Different from 100 Million Miles Under the Stars, regardless of the 2 versions, but no less interesting for a minute, ELEVENTH SUN - Revisited is a work that demonstrates the very progressive character of Michael Brückner regarding his visions of atmospheric music. The music is as striking as meditative with good rhythmic sequences and experimental passages of percussive as well as organic elements. This titanic edition proposes nothing less than the best of the 2 universes of a work which lets discovered with wonder.
Sylvain Lupari (October 30th, 2022) ****½*
Available at SynGate Bandcamp
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