“This is a complement album that contains some nice titles which illustrate very well the direction of Ron Boots”
1 Die Geschichte 5:21
2 Tranquil 6:36
3 Look up to the Sky 5:48
4 Probes and Shuttles 6:31
5 A Clear View 6:53
6 Tarnished Drops 11:50
7 Serenity 7:26
8 Do we Believe? 6:30
9 The Story 5:25
(CD/DDL 62:33) (V.F.)
(Berlin & Netherlands Schools)
In complement to Beyond the Boundaries of Twilight, Ron Boots offers to his fans a 400 limited edition pressed CD of his musical reflections about concerts he gave in different planetariums over the last 7 years. BOUNDARY TALES is very near of Beyond the Boundaries of Twilight but with a more personal touch where the rhythm goes alongside long atmospheric passages sometimes poetic, sometimes atonal.
The album opens with Die Geschichte, a replica in German of The Story that we find on the previous album. Poetic, Tranquil is a musical sweetness which bathes in a galactic aurora borealis where cosmic waves cover a twinkling quiet luminosity. It's a contrast of tranquillity compared to the boiling Look up to the Sky and its funky jazz beat where tones of trumpets sing in a techno approach. That reminds me of Mind Over Matter's crazy tribal festivities with ethnic percussions and ethereal voices which flow with a zombie insistence. The rhythm is heavy and leans on a resonant bass that a synth encircles of hopping and stroboscopic arpeggios. It's a striking and surprising title coming from Ron's repertoire. Probes and Shuttles is a slow cosmic journey where the ambiances inherent to the operations of space shuttles or to NASA operational bureaus prevail on a very ambient and cosmic movement. Clear View is very representative of its naming with its crystalline chords skipping such as keys of a galactic xylophone over a synth of which slow orchestral oscillations take a moving tangent. It's soft, warm and very inspired. Ron Boots brings us where he wants. A fluty synth opens the atmospheric passage of Tarnished Drops. A fine sequence slowly comes out of this morphic movement, drawing heavy oscillations which pound with strength before plunging into a good rhythmic fusion between synth and sequencer. Keys are fluttering in this somber sound mass from where a soft synth breath leaks out. Slowly the synth wraps the sequential stream which keeps the same rhythmic frenzy, shaping a more crystalline movement where arpeggios skip in a sound whirlwind filled of heavy undulations. It's a title that suits marvellously the universe of Ron Boots in planetariums. Like its title indicates, Serenity is of an astral tranquillity with its soft chords which hesitate to clear the path and make its way among this long corridor full of galactic tones. Do We Believe ? begins with synth loops which wave in the echo of a serpentine move. An echo which draws a light spasmodic movement before falling under an avalanche of percussions with untimely rolling, forging a fascinating symphonic anarchy where chaos is pierced from everywhere by the echoes of synth riffs and twisted solos. The Story ends BOUNDARY TALES with a music shape in minimalism loops which run in a sound universe slightly livened up by heavy pulsations which beat in a twinkling sounds decor. In fact, it's the same music as in The Story from Beyond the Boundaries of Twilight, but without Ron's words.
BOUNDARY TALES is not this kind of album which contains leftovers of musical ideas forgotten in time. Without having the impact of his older brother (Beyond the Boundaries of Twilight), the music is all the same rather more floating and cosmic. But it contains some nice titles which illustrate very well the direction of structures and melodies which lead Ron Boots' creativity. It should easily please to Ron's fans.
Sylvain Lupari (July 27th, 2010) ***½**
Available at Groove NL