“A fair album which will please to the fans of Realtime and might attract new fans who enjoy the dark floating breezes of Steve Roach”
1 Food for Fantasy 15:15 2 Swinging Amplitudes 12:02 3 Plutronic Pt 1 & 2 11:38 4 Psychedelic Emotions 13:51 5 Vento Solare 8:45 6 Trigga Me (Brave ol´Sequence) 6:08 SynGate CD-r RT06
(CD-r/DDL 67:42) (V.F.) (Ambient, soft sequencer-based EM)
A cosmic heat escapes from the opening of this 6th opus of Realtime, dragging a celestial wave which multiplies its waves which embrace together and float as in a timeless waltz. A filament of sequences emerges at the edge of 3 minutes. Discreet, the movement also frees a line of bass which pounds in an ascending movement. The ambient rhythm of Food for Fantasy comes then like a slow spiral which swirl with the firm intention to weigh down our senses. Except that scattered percussions fall as an anger of Thor, shaking the peace of mind of this spiral with successive but skillfully scattered bludgeoning. Mists and effects, as well as strange plaintive solos, wrap this circular walking which will never explode, preferring a peace of mind tormented by the continual avalanches of the percussions. SWINGING AMPLITUDES won't disorient, nor will disappoint, the fans of Thomas Bock's sound vessel. And sound vessel is the term which fit the best to the music of the German synthésiste which does not too much seem to suffer from Norbert Hensellek's departure after the very good Solar Walk.
The title-track offers an oscillatory pattern with arpeggios which glitter and spin in an ambient structure, a little as a swarm of keys which jostle in a cosmic Funk. Under an avalanche of sound effects, a crawling bassline structures a soft rhythmic mood which percussions and metallic bangings pull towards an approach of cosmic Techno inspired by Jean-Michel Jarre. In spite of a 2nd more lively part, Swinging Amplitudes always stays in the lineage of the still and ambient rhythms of Realtime. Plutronic Pt 1 & 2 offers a more ambient structure of rhythm with tom-toms which are muffled by a mass of winds, filled of cosmic particles, and suffocated voices. The title dives into an ambient, but noisy, phase loaded of interstellar elements and of synth layers which cross their sonic blades in a fight which won't make a master because Plutronic Pt 1 & 2 will be reborn of its form of origin. The fans of Steve Roach will be pleased here, as well as in the storm of hollow winds which makes breathe Vento Solare. Psychedelic Emotions is a very intense title with very good synth solos of which the shrill colors tear the azure on an ascending structure of rhythm livened up by muffled pulsations. The music gets gobbled up by a compact mass of hollow breezes where the impression to hear choirs fouls the imagination. Trigga Me (Brave ol' Sequence) ends this album with a good movement of sequences inspired by Klaus Schulze from his unique Brave Old Sequences. If the beginning wants to be held far from these influences, the finale is unequivocal. A great track!
At the end of the line, SWINGING AMPLITUDES is a fair album which follows the tangent of Realtime at the level of this mixture between the sequenced hymns a la Software and an ambient music more in the mode of Steve Roach here than in its usual cosmic mode. I quite enjoyed it, mainly because of its intense moments and those soft rhythms which hypnotize you easily. There are very good titles which worth its discovery. But in all and all, it’s quite indicated for the fans of Realtime.
Sylvain Lupari (February 1st, 2017) ***½**
Available at SynGate Bandcamp