“This comeback of Polaris is a good breath of fresh air in the spheres of EM with an approach highly stylized and surprisingly eclectic”
1 Fata Morgana 13:16 2 Derweze 9:34 3 Dunes 11:40 4 Hasting's Cutoff 9:50 5 Oasis 8:12 GEN CD 045
(CD 52:32) (VF) (Berlin School, E-Rock and EDM)
Humm…quite a comeback from Polaris! Near, or more, four years after Way Out, Jakub Kmiec gets out of his den to offer an album which will surprise more than one. An electronic ode on the theme of desert, DESERT RUN entails in its trail this signature of Polaris' EDM in structures clearly more elaborate than on his previous albums. The result gives a rather particular style where we find essences of Jean-Michel Jarre, for the cosmic decor, Kitaro for the harmonization of the synthesized melodies, Tangerine Dream for the effects and the spirals of sequences and finally Redshift for many other elements.
It's moreover in the perfumes of Logos that Fata Morgana gets organized around our ears. A dark veil imagined in the cave of Redshift spreads layers of chthonian voices around this meshing of percussions and sequences which dribble its keys in a rhythmic which goes towards this electronic rock that we still don't know how to dance. Evolving in two phases, Fata Morgana corresponds perfectly to the meaning of its idea with a sound mirage where the diverse periods of Tangerine Dream form an ear-catchy symbiosis. Like this guitar which spits its riffs, which would like to turn into furious solos, and this phase of sequences which goes as these crazy balls in an abacus activated by a gearing out of control. It's in this moment, around 6:30 minutes, that the sequencer activates its madness, modifying a structure which becomes more uncluttered and more lively. The fans of Chris Franke's ingenious sequencing patterns are going to devour this title. Derweze is in pure Redshift mode, both for the ambiences and for the use of the sequencer which presents its Tangerine Dream influences. Let's that it describes perfectly this legend of the Gates of Hell on Earth situated in the Turkmenistan desert. Dunes will be party of these titles put in my iPod, section Best EM tracks of 2018. Rolling in Floydian mists, some rather intense synth solos get out of layers filled with reverberating cracklings. A small footstep of the sequencer and hop …A sublime synth line, more than too harmonious, goes down from the clouds with an irrevocable influence on our charms. The sequencer stammers another approach at the same time as a good bass line invites itself behind this harmonious gift. And everything goes fast! The percussions which come to dance with the keyboard riffs and propel the music towards a lively structure where threads of melodies roll in loops on a structure a bit jerky, but always very animated. Divided between its magnificent whistled melody and its Kitaro solos style, Dunes retreats towards a narrow corridor of ambiospherical elements before springing with strength, rambling its 2nd part between its phases of ambivalences. I have to tell you that it's this kind of music that leads me to madly love EM and its multiple possibilities.
Chords quivering like clackers prisoners in a foggy echo tickle charmingly our sense of hearing. This zigzagging movement coming from the far drags a meshing of pulsations and acoustic percussions which will be the base of a bidirectional rhythmic structure. Some arpeggios flutter above, while the presence of mist amplifies the atmospheric side of Hasting's Cutoff, a title which gets the most closer of the hymns EDM that we found on the album Way Out, but in an envelope a little bit Cosmic Funk, a la Robert Schroëder. Oasis is sculpted in the same mold. This time, the rhythm escapes from an orchestral fog from where arises a line of bass pulsation and an armada of sequences which flicker quickly, like in those big electronic rocks of TD in their Miramar years. The second part proposes another rendezvous with the dexterity of Jakub Kmiec and his synth solos which will seduce you more than once throughout this album filled of surprises. And there, I didn't even mention the very Franke pattern of sequences of the Logos years which are flickering with a good pace in this finale, as well as in a lot of places in DESERT RUN.
This comeback of Polaris is a good breath of fresh air in the spheres of EM with an approach highly stylized and surprisingly eclectic. Surfing comfortable between several styles and influences, of which the links are imperceptible and nevertheless tangible, DESERT RUN is a journey in the heart of a EM where all its ingredients melt together in a symbiosis of the most charming. There is the a very good and a beautiful EM in this other little jewel, always carefully covered with a beautiful digipack, from the Polish label, Generator PL.
Sylvain Lupari (May 13th, 2018) ****¼* SynthSequences.com
Available on Generator PL
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