“The music here spans a wide range of genres, no matter what the responses of its moods”
1 Plector 5:26
2 Shapes 5:54 3 Angles 6:34 4 Atmoform 5:09 5 Dysfunction 5:49 6 Dark Machinery 5:24 7 Intensity 5:44 8 Harmonic Pathways 4:08
(CD/DDL 44:21) (V.F.)
(Organic Dark EM)
Even though the music of Parallel Worlds is quite a challenge in itself, I have become a fan over the years. And what better way to start your discovery of this very special sound universe than with an album produced by DiN and mastered by Ian Boddy, who seems to be the only one to capture the essence of Bakis Siros music that he composes on the border of darkness? PLECTOR is the 3rd solo album that the Greek musician realizes on the English label. And it is undoubtedly one of his most accessible with this mixture of resonant rhythms à la Arc, which border the borders of the Electronica, and structures not necessarily too ambient, of which the superb Harmonic Pathways, in phases of noises which are the sources of multiple possibilities of his modular synths. It's literally 45 minutes of pure tonal pleasure that takes over our ears as soon as the title track floods our headphones or roams the walls, ceiling and floor of our listening room.
The first breezes of PLECTOR sound like breaths pushed inside a metal tube. These breaths hum in a sonic sky obscured by a whirring cloud, from which emerges a fascinating structure of amphibian rhythm. The gap between the steps of Plector's bass and rubbery pulsations is filled with stuff both organic and slimy ectoplasmic, creating the effect of a continuous structure that undulates like a large sonorous earthworm that has just eaten twice its weight in sonic food. Percussive pschitt-pschitt and other modular synth noises adorn this vampiric downtempo that continues to crawl under the haunting harmonies of an almost apocalyptic siren-like synth. A line of reverberations snakes the opening of Shapes which, from the 30th second, lets go a rhythmic structure that undulates like a hip-hop in the land of scarlet gnomes. The movement borders an uneasy sensuality and sways in an atmosphere where the echo of sulfur makes echoing the percussive effects. The synth tosses a fabulous Berber chant after the 4th minute that takes the curves of the rhythm. Angles offers a resonant pulsating rhythm. The movement is slow, almost flowing, with the shadow of an undulating bass line that is dark and elastic. It makes a cloud of white noises vibrate with each hit the beat takes. The structure is languid and full of all those little organic tonal treasures innate to the use of modular synths. The synth sculpts a strange and pervasive melody that flickers like a sonic flame over a fauna of threads swarming like sonic invertebrates. Atmoform is a gloomy symphony of drones with tints as celestial as diabolic. We are in the den of a dark ambient music which shears the eardrums.
After this short atmospheric chthonian interlude, the opening of Dysfunction makes us hear breaths filled with reverberating materials that vibrate in the echo of the void. Not even 30 seconds in, the rhythm already starts to undulate in a structure similar to Shapes, but with more heaviness and fluidity. The rhythm is surrounded by the creative noises of Bakis Sirros who also carves here a Berber melody melted in a tone that flirts with that of an old Hammond organ. It is very psychedelic of the 70's, except that the sound fauna of the modern years brings us back to the nowadays psybient. An excellent track with a melodic vision that obsesses the senses! Half-ambient and semi-rhythmic, Dark Machinery comes in with the weight of its slow procession, and burial tune, over the heavy metallic crashes rendered by violent percussive collisions. The atmospheric opening of Intensity literally takes us out of PLECTOR's industrial noir context with an almost heavenly vision. One can even hear birds humming in the drizzle of the mechanical whirring of a waterfall. This illusion dissipates after 30 seconds to give way to the stammering of a spasmodic rhythmic framework. Various percussion elements structure a teeming bed of static rhythm, while the main melody line jerks intermittently, creating that perfect harmonic mismatch between the bubbling rhythm and its stuttering melody. I'll just quote DiN's press guide to describe the Enoesque landscape of Harmonic Pathways. A true gem of meditative ambient music where the darkness of PLECTOR flirts with the skies of Brian Eno.
The music in PLECTOR spans a wide range of genres, no matter what the responses of its moods. Over the years, Parallel Worlds has stylized its own musical aesthetic with a plethora of sound effects that give that luscious organic, ectoplasmic texture to music composed astride the edges of hells. PLECTOR is no different, except that Bakis plays on the borders of a dark Electronica and of an England School with slow, dark structures. His most accessible to date!
Sylvain Lupari (December 10th, 2022) ****½*
Available at DiN Music
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