“Sessions 2012 is a striking album where the sensivité of Remy shines through the breaths of a life nailed in a wheelchair”
1 Temptation 13:29
(& Korneel Oskam)
2 In High Places 17:33
(& Christian Gouweleeuw)
3 Hunter 15:14
(&Glenn Nugteren)
4 Full Moon 15:03
(& Karin van Dijk)
(DDL 61:20) (V.F.)
(Minimalist Berlin School)
A strange beauty, fragile and poetic, emanates from this latest Remy album. SESSIONS 2012 is an album about resilience where 4 handicapped people give Remy's music a whole new dimension. My Breath My Music is a quartet composed of Korneel Oskam, Christian Gouweleeuw, Glenn Nugteren and Karin van Dijk. Heavily disabled people who play an instrument specially designed for those who have no or very little mobility in their arms so that they can create EM; The Magic Flute. This wind instrument finds its genesis in this tube that the disabled put between their lips in order to operate their wheelchair or perform the actions necessary for a better, if possible, quality of life where everyday actions are real ordeals of endurance for them. The Magic Flute can be connected to other sources of electronic equipment, such as synths or MIDI software, thus multiplying a wider range of musical winds, fluty breaths, synth tones and wind instruments including the deep sensitivity seems to have no secrets for the 4 members of the Wind quartet.
Don't be surprised if you recognize in Temptation the stealthy rhythm structure of I-Dentity from the album of the same name. For the needs of the cause, where all proceeds from the sale of SESSIONS 2012 will go to the My Breath My Music foundation, Remy donated four structures from The Great Church Trilogy, I-Dentity and Exhibition of Dreams to the members of this wind quartet. Except that everything is in the winds. Here they are contortionists. They adopt ethereal forms and blend with delight to the original solos on a structure which has not lost any of its originality. In High Places is a version of Vulnerable, a bonus track that belongs to the downloadable version of I-Dentity, which is screaming of emotion with the very heartbreaking breaths of Christian Gouweleeuw. One would swear a synth with a soul where the windy lamentations of Gouweleeuw follow the slow obscure crescendo of this fascinating track which takes here a whole new dimension. To be honest, I prefer this version which is just heartbreaking. Hunter plays on the flower beds of Destination Berlin III also from I-Dentity with an acoustic guitar that brings a touch of flamingo to this track nourished by curt and sharp chords of a bass line that never ceases to roar with its threatening circles. Glenn Nugteren brings fluid solos to the second part. Complex solos that compete with ease to a fiercely manipulated synth on a track that we barely recognize and, once stripped of its primary harmonies, unveils a nice rhythm structure that is both tribal and groovy, but also heavy and hard. Full Moon is a good cover of the tender and romantic Lunascape from the famous Exhibition of Dreams. The ethereal breaths of synths with the aromas of angelic voices are replaced there by saxophone breaths brilliantly rendered by Karin van Dijk who is more nostalgic than rainwater on a faded rose.
SESSIONS 2012 is a good charity project by Remy where the best of his melancholy is found in the pain of 4 people whose sensitivity is increased tenfold by a life without remorse. The work is striking, especially because of the interpretations of Vulnerable and Lunascape, where the synths find a soul that even the analog could not render. It's incredibly good. The choice of titles is judicious with a nice balance between the drama and its unsuspected pleasures. And like I said; there is a strange beauty behind My Breath My Music that gives life the breaths that too often fail our imagination, our need to understand what escapes a vision that refuses to see. Chapeau Remy for having accompanied My Breath My Music throughout his four compositions. But above all, hats off to Korneel Oskam, Christian Gouweleeuw, Glenn Nugteren and Karin van Dijk for having found in Remy's music that little something that makes it so unique and for having exploited it with as much depth as the Dutch synthesist.
Sylvain Lupari (June 7th, 2013) *****
Available at Desert Island Music