“Dark Energy is not within the reach of all ears where synths are used for highly artistic purposes and trivialize the democratization of its potential”
1 Dark Energy Part I 30:34 2 Dark Energy Part II 29:52 PWM Distrib
(CD 60:27) (V.F.) (Ambient experimental music)
A sound exploration in the depths of matter and dark energy! After Alpha Lyra's audacious sonic project on the ultimate atom, it's the turn of another French musician to make us listen to his reflection on a scientific phenomenon, namely astrophysics and dark energy. And how does this reflection unfold? With all the colors of its negative force. In fact, one must love the sounds related to the Cosmos since the dark energy fills everything of the Universe.
It's therefore in a symphony of composite sounds that this gravitational journey begins. Bubbles of sounds burst in this assemblage of cosmic tones. The listener is immersed in a form of video game that he has no joystick. Tones get agglutinate in masses or in small groups on barely formed layers which sometimes react by effects of reverberations which fray an embryonic density. But is it only sounds? Yes, but they are grouped by moments in fascinating lunar melodies where the delicacy of the notes and of the harmonic sequences, as well as the orchestrations that lead us adrift adorn a panorama whose slow evolution serves as a table to the dexterity of Olivier Briand. Thus the second part of Dark Energy Part I gives up its experimental imprint to embrace a tonal bloom more conducive to a deep musical immersion. Gigantic organ layers bring a chthonic dimension to this second phase where the tonal life now accompanies a more musical form of a reflection very difficult to describe, so rich is it and how it moves rather quickly for the genre. The layers of voices are imbued of a dreamlike tenderness and blend with orchestrations which lose their symphonic sense when absorbed by a synth and its intergalactic chants. Percussions bring a percussive dimension which welcomes a slight chaos, shaking even the moods to structure a spasmodic phase. If my friend Olivier refutes the chaos, he nourishes the introduction of Dark Energy Part II which still remains quite musical in its sonic tower of Babel. Percussive elements exert a rhythmic pressure which results into a long series of aggressive rodeos in a universe where the rhythmic fantasies and those of the atmospheres are drawn from the interstices of a synthesizer in madness. Rhythmic din and sonic fuss stick together in this introduction where the disorder has never looked so good, so beautiful. Olivier Briand takes us to the edge of a chasm where the long and slow slide brings us on the other side of an introduction always greedy of the tonal imbalance. A second part of DARK ENERGY difficult to consume as its nature scares. But are we not in this illusion where dark energy acts as a repulsive gravitational force? Music which respects the views of his author, DARK ENERGY is not within the reach of all ears. It's an album that is primarily for those who revel in complex works where synths are used for highly artistic purposes and trivialize the democratization of its potential. I found the delusions of Dark Energy Part I astonishingly appealing. As for Dark Energy Part II, I'm always in mode tame the tones. Although I find more and more charms, to the chagrin of my Lise.
Sylvain Lupari (July 16th, 2018) ***½** SynthSequences.com Available at PWM Distrib