“A good album which sounds like good old Klaus Schulze post-X”
Lumilux 56:49 (01/06/21)
1 Flor De Las Antillas 24:32
2 La Casa De Aurora 18:55
3 Palma Esmeralda 13:21
(DDL 56:49) (V.F.)
(New Berlin School)
I've had this album for a while. Offered with the option of name your price, LUMILOX is a nice surprise if you like Klaus Schulze's style, Angst to Miditerranean Pads period. Obukhovaudio must ring a bell if you have heard the album Polaroid Concert, released by Groove nl in early 2020. Indeed, it is the Russian musician Alexander Obukhov who is behind this project. A rather interesting project, if I go by this album and which has a multitude of other albums on Bandcamp, always in the same option. LUMILUX is presented in 3 tracks all interrelated by the same skeleton that, like a butterfly, metamorphoses to reach full maturity.
Flor De Las Antillas does not waste time in the atmospheric limbo by making the hoop of the sequencer and its limpid keys dancing like intoxicated souls. The texture is reminiscent of dozens of bottles clashing to the rhythm of stoic percussions. Dozens of feet with crystal glass shoes dancing and jiggling in a narrow circle where all avoid trambling on their toes. The synth disperses layers that are as much musical as accessory to end up espousing strata waltzing against the pace of a circular movement whose arrhythmic beauty has conquered us from the beginning. If the rhythm remains minimalist by necessity, the jumping keys modify the color and the cohesion of their jumps, thus escaping redundancy, even after the 11th minute when the synth renews its orchestral strategy. Keyboard chords drop in after 13 minutes, adding a melodic vision and encouraging the circle of dancers to follow this new musical direction set by ascending 3-chord sequences. Flor De Las Antillas is about to change skins while keeping the same backbone for the next few minutes. More intense and emotional, the music casts a shadow on this rhythm by putting forward its brand-new passion. There are glass shoes that explode and/or want to be heard more clearly as Flor De Las Antillas quietly returns to its genesis without having lost too much in the process. Bewitching, in all its forms!
These 3 chords, with a scale or two higher, are at the heart of La Casa De Aurora's dynamism. The rhythm is supported by a good bass line and some good technoïd percussions, while the synth takes over the 3rd line with a jerky chords texture that comes back in sequences. There is a lot of depth in this track which also makes tinkle these jumping keys dressed of glass, such as in Flor De Las Antillas. Apart from these sequences, the orchestrations favor these electronic waltzes flirting with a cosmic essence that is more present on this title. The synth transforms the haze of its violins to weave good prismatic solos in the middle of the 13th minute. Prismatic or cosmic, these solos give off harmonies that are easily whistled. As much as La Casa De Aurora was able to draw elements from Flor De Las Antillas, Palma Esmeralda does the same! Thus, the ascending movement of the chords turns into orchestrations on a lively structure that is disrupted by atmospheric rolls. Living from a rhythmic fusion between the first 2 tracks of LUMILUX, its flow is almost danceable with these 3 chords that remain in the background but whose impulses are clearly heard. There comes a delicate permutation around the 8th minute, opening the way to the synth which multiplies very good solos on a structure whose spinning circles intoxicate as much as these solos which transports us to the pinnacle of EM.
A little far, but not too much, from the spheres of Polaroid Concert, LUMILUX is a good album which sounds like good old Klaus Schulze post-X. Minimalist and hypnotic, even bewitching, we follow the evolution of a musical framework from which we couldn't hope for better skin changes. Free if you want, or for a few dollars if you can, it's a very nice way to discover electronic music, KS and especially a brilliant instigator of the Russian Electronic Music, Alexander Obukhov.
Sylvain Lupari (October 24th, 2021) ***½**
Available at Obukhovaudio Bandcamp