“Autumnal aims to be the origin of Autumn and we can hear this here and there in tis solid evolving New Berlin School style track”
1 Studio Session 45:10 Syngate CD-R MTA031
(CD-r/DDL 45:11) (V.F.) (New Berlin School)
Considered as an E.P. of 45-minutes by the SynGate label, AUTUMNAL has became the common thread of the Autumn album after a jam session at Thomas Meier's studio. The German trio gives their all and their best by laying down their basic ideas that TM Solver recorded as is, except for a sound adjustment in the final mix. Are there any kind of main inspirations here that we find on the latest MTA Lab album?
The introduction is muddled by a storm of colorful and conflicting electronic tones which get vanish after 120 seconds. The sequencer goes into mode; run after me that I catch you! The rhythm is lively and fluid with essences that can be recognized in each of Autumn's structures. The synths are just a little less with aerial twisted lines whose hues and reverberations get bicker to end in a very vintage solo. A little more and it's the perfumes of Pyramid Peak, very present in the first 2 albums of MTA Lab, that come out of our headphones with the raging effects of the sinuous curves from reverberations. Good solos and harmonic tunes emerge from this ambiosonic tumult while the sequencer still maintains the pace up until around the 12th minute when the trio regains their minds and looks for a new door to a solid Berliner beat: The strength of Marcel Margis, Thomas Meier and Andre Danker! It's rather the same form of rhythm, perhaps a little less aggressive, which emerges again in a universe always so multicoloured of nebulous effects and synth solos. Studio Session even flirts with a vintage psychedelic side especially with these fuzz wah-wah effects that come from Andre Danker's guitar. Another short ambient-rhythmic pause around the 20 minutes prepares AUTUMNAL towards a more ambiospherical trip lasting 10 minutes. The 3 musicians paint the panorama of anesthetic layers, sound effects and floating pads which are owners of melodic filters. The pace is back with a structure which has probably inspired the title track of the Autumn album, but in a livelier approach where the sequences are piling up on a slightly disordered conveyor, whereas the other conveyor displays a clear harmonic fluidity. This segment also becomes very complicit of the album Autumn with a brilliant use of the sequencer which can count on very good percussive effects to enhance its velocity that layers of ether try to mitigate. This is the most beautiful part of Studio Session where MTA Lab can not betray the influences of Pyramid Peak which control the final of this jam session where Marcel Margis, Thomas Meier and Andre Danker skillfully forge the beginnings of what would become Autumn.
Sylvain Lupari (January 10th, 2019) *****
Available at SynGate Bandcamp