“A blend of Vangelis melodious side with TD's sequencing patterns and movie music”
1 The First Love 6:35
2 Electric Step 5:04
3 The New Experience 5:43
4 Beat in Dreams 4:23
5 The Room of Wishes 4:21
6 Round Dance 4:19
7 Streets of Fire 3:32
8 Loneliness 5:41
9 Electrical Atmospheres 11:00
10 The Flight of Freedom 7:08
11 Into the Light 5:58
(DDL 63:47) (V.F.)
(Melodic New Berlin School)
The musical universe of THE CURRENT OF PLEASURES is based on imaginary soundtracks of movies that were never made. Who doesn't have these secret movies in their head? Well, Robert Kalyos offers us 11 tracks that are passages to these completely crazy scenarios that illuminated our secret visions. Like the previous albums of the Italian musician, THE CURRENT OF PLEASURES is available only in downloadable format. The production is without reproach with a good mixing and mastering in order to isolate well the rhythm lines that multiply and/or duplicate, the evolutions of the rhythms and the atmospheres more often than otherwise very gloomy. The music is composed in narrative mode with a strong influence of Vangelis in the melodic structures and Tangerine Dream in the rhythms, the evolutions of these rhythms and the sequencer patterns. A thin layer of retro Dark Wave covers the music of this opus which is strongly perfumed with the musical flavors of the 80's. Please note that 3 tracks from the album have been remixed as well as stretched and are sold separately. It's up to you to decide if it's worth the cost!
Not really a love affair, The First Love starts this new album with an action movie score. Structured on a lively flow of a pulsing bass-line, the beat follows the journey of a tactical team in helicopter. Silver grooves paint the sky with undulating slicks, heralding the arrival of melodious arpeggios that leap across the rhythm's tarmac. Swirling synth effects add a very realistic action movie depth to the rhythmic structure that ends up making swirl our emotions and senses with a crescendo in intensity, both rhythmically and atmospherically, which orchestrations wrap with a real cinematic essence. If the rhythm is very TD, The Park Is Mine style, the melody is woven in the dreamy harmonies of Vangelis. And it won't be the only track of this kind in this good collection of electronic music (EM) that is THE CURRENT OF PLEASURES. The title also exists in a minimal reprise version that offers a slightly different texture. Enough to make the temptation to get it very tangible. An ochred shadow anchors the heavy and slow rhythm of Electric Step to our ears. Waves of synths trace a kind of melody whose evanescence is absorbed by the romantic flights of a big cloud of misty orchestrations which makes float and waltz its swarm of violin strings. Anodyne, the rhythm remains captivating by its resonance, by the intoxicating impact of the heavy and incisive percussions. One is hypnotized by these strikes when the sequencer unties a harmonic rhythm structure after the 3rd minute. It undulates and zigzags in a very good ascending pattern typical of the Berlin School. A title at first sight without ambition which strikes our ears in a better second part! It's a heavy layer of orchestrations coated with crackling and white noises that develops The New Experience. The music remains in suspension with restrained orchestrations from which escape synth tunes that dominate the ambiences with a symphonic vision. There are a lot of reverb effects in this atmospheric track that comes alive with a bouncy and inconsequential rhythm around the 4th minute. Corrosive, reverberating synth pads are leading the charge of Beat in Dreams, which immediately offers a heavy, slow pace with percussive effects from the percussions. There is a tremolo feel from the nervous bass line in this rhythm that takes a more spasmodic tangent. The melodic approach is of a grave tone and the envelope given off by the synth is very Tangerine Dream of the Logos years. The Italian musician also offers an extended Remix version stretched by some 3 minutes. The percussive effects and the rhythm is sharper on this version that I like better. The Room of Wishes is an atmospheric track that spreads its misty wings over arpeggios that telegraph both a rhythmic and melodic approach. The keyboard crumbles a bewitching melodious approach that tinkles in a mythical haze. The sequencer activates a bouncing rhythmic line after the second minute and a half, structuring a linear rhythm without further consequence.
Then Robert Kalyos offers 2 totally crazy tracks! Round Dance adopts a lively structure of Dark Wave à la The Cure, think of the Seventeen Seconds album, on a rhythm possessed by an organic texture. The synth lays down a very good vampire melody under long solos in a tone that reflects well the 80's. The rhythm takes a bipolar tangent with the addition of a circular sequencer line and hand clapping effects. Shaken up by sharp oscillations, Streets of Fire is another fiery track on a good mesh of bass, electronic percussion and sequences. The harmonic envelope is pushed by arrangements that would go very well with a darker version of Casper the Ghost movie. After these two very energetic tracks, Loneliness brings a little respite in a texture of Dark Ambient EM from which the procession draws a melody which is sad and heavy of its melancholic sighs. A very beautiful dark and moving slow-dance! The longest track of this opus, Electrical Atmospheres proposes an evolutionary structure that begins with a bouncing rhythm as if it was wrapped in a rubbery membrane. The synth blows tunes subdued by a mixture of breaths and spectral flute. At priori minimalist, the music begins a rhythmic turn shortly before the 6th minute with the addition of another percussion and sequencer lines whose pairing structures an electronic rhythm that leaps more vividly into a strobe-like form. This phase is also very Tangerine Dream from the White Eagle period in terms of rhythmic structure and synth melody. The percussions and a line of sequenced riffs impose in first a slow rhythm to The Flight of Freedom. This title also exists in a expanded remix version stretched of 8 minutes and proposes another ending with a good rhythmic overflow. We always remain in this vision of music for action and suspense movie with keyboard chords which smear the ambiences with effects of sound splashes and waves of reverberations. A melodic vision extracted from a dystopian universe is grafted onto these ambiences. The line of riffs detaches itself little by little, giving two speeds to a rhythm which will blossom with the new momentum of a line of arpeggios as melodic as rhythmic. Into the Light ends this last Robert Kalyos offering with an atmospheric music having a heavy gothic essence that reminds me of the mysterious and nebulous atmospheres of The Cure music, still from the Seventeen Seconds album.
A good and well-made EM, not complicated for 2 cents, except maybe for Electrical Atmospheres, THE CURRENT OF PLEASURES can be compared to a compilation of the best tracks of a fictitious soundtrack, so much the music is good, catchy and melodious. A very nice album by Robert Kalyos whose only defect is to last 64 minutes!
Sylvain Lupari (July 25th, 2022) *****
Available at Robert Kalyos' Bandcamp