“Different Stages is an interesting compilation of tracks which have everything to charm all the fans of soft cosmic techno and ambient dance music”
1 In Natura 4:24
2 Draconian 5:13
3 Dark Spell 3:26
4 Transformation 4:50
5 Valhal 6:16
6 Absorbed in Dreams and Yearing 6:16
7 Ghost Mind 4:43
8 Intergalactic Journey 4:49
9 Nightfall (CD Bonus track) 5:07
(CD/DDL/LP 44:56) (V.F.)
(Cosmic techno and EDM)
Like its title suggests, DIFFERENT STAGES is a collection of titles that Bjorn Jeppesen has performed at various locations and through many EM festivals. From the Nordberg Festival in Sweden to the Awakenings in England, passing by the very famous E-Live in Holland, without forgetting his performance at the Raumzeit Festival in Germany, his 2nd album in concert, the other being Live Germany, follows the chronological order of these events which took place from July 2010 to September 2012. The album is available in download and also in manufactured CD which contains a bonus track played in Copenhagen in October 1999. And what to say about DIFFERENT STAGES? Well… not much. It's just very good but also too short.
With its nervous and curt rhythm which shakes an electronic melody with quavering tremolo, In Natura sets the tone for an album where the pure and hard rhythm prevails throughout its 45 minutes. Nattefrost presents a solid setlist with 9 tracks where electronic rhythms send us good earworms which are good to hear again. We stamp our feet and whistle the melodies in a universe of cosmic techno which is similar to the musical frescoes of Jean-Michel Jarre. Only the financial means are lacking to support this interesting Scandinavian artist as far as the gargantuan follies of the French synthesist. But hey, it's another debate! The performances revolve around the presentation of the album Dying Sun / Scarlet Moon, which is fairly well represented with 3 titles: In Natura, Draconian and The Dark Spell. And we are entitled to 2 very good classics from the album Absorbed In Dreams and Yearing with the title song and the superb Valhal with its soft contemporary touch. Nattefrost goes as far as 1997 with the dreamer and catchy soft cosmic techno Intergalactic Journey and 1998 with the lively Transformation. We are also entitled to another classic in the making with a title of Futurized; Ghost Mind. And despite the years that separate Intergalactic Journey and Ghost Mind, Bjorn Jeppesen succeeds in cementing everything in order to give the illusion of a very good album of cosmic techno with a very current flavor, even with the slightly old-fashioned and very robotic sound of Nightfall.
Without surpassing the very solid Live Germany of 2010, DIFFERENT STAGES is an interesting compilation of titles that have everything to charm any lover of soft techno and EDM. It's 45 minutes tightly packed, with a nice update of old titles that don't distort them and that gives them a touch of youth. And we cannot ignore any link between music and the artistic approach that exists between Nattefrost and Jean-Michel Jarre. So that I dream of a day when the two will perform together ...
Sylvain Lupari (April 28th, 2014) ***½**
Available at Nattefrost's Bandcamp