“From the Forgotten Rooms of a Lonely House is a heck of musical gift to the luckies that made it to this show”
1 Bielefeld by Night (MorPheuSz) 5:40
2 Another Timeroom!!! (MorPheuSz) 7:36
3 Da Capo (MorPheuSz) 8:36
4 Lost Stars 4:36
5 Vocat Cataclism 16:18
6 From the Dark Cellars of the House 9:24
7 Spinning out of Control 8:13
(DDL 60:23) (V.F.)
(Berlin School Electronic Prog-Rock)
FROM THE FORGOTTEN ROOMS OF A LONELY HOUSE, what a thoughtful title, is a gift album that Ron Boots gave away for free to fans who attended his last concert at the Bochum Planetarium on December 30, 2011. It's an album of unreleased music where Ron Boots has searched in the recesses of his studio, hence this superb title, in order to unearth titles which are testifying of the Dutch synthesist's versatility. The first 3 titles are interpreted by MorPheuSz, while the next 4 come from the creative attics of Ron Boots. Titles with very diverse rhythms and ambiences which follow one another in a long 60-minute opus where all this new material sounds vaguely familiar. A bit as if it had served as a basis for titles scattered here and there in the repertoires of MorPheuSz and Ron Boots.
Recorded at the 3rd EM festival in Bielefeld in September 2010, Bielefeld by Night immerses us in the hybrid ambiences of MorPheuSz, where progressive rock meets EM. It's a good electronic blues-rock where the plaintive guitar of FD Projekt weaves solos full of emotions on good percussions. The synths vaporize clouds of mists and modulate undulating waves while subdividing their breaths into brief solos on a soft structure where dream meets lasciviousness. A bit like in Garden Gnomes and Goblins, Another Timeroom !!! transports us to the borders of the sands' peoples with a languid tribal rhythm encamped on good Tablas-style percussions. Synths, like the guitar, embroider a world of fantasy with thin iridescent layers and melancholic notes that float, shine and sigh in an Arabian setting. Da Capo is a superb track taken from the album of the same name written by Eric van der Heijden in 1998. It's a very good melody whose harmonies are stolen by a splendid romantic guitar from Frank Dorittke. The intro is very Vangelis with synths with angelic breezes blowing on rotating cymbals and harmonious guitar riffs. Dreamy, the rhythm wanders between the layers of a synth, which also releases notes with harp tones, and the harmonic solos of guitars which sing over percussions whose sustained strikes structure a bolero rhythm. And around the 5th minute, the riffs and percussions insist on their procrastination. And bang! Da Capo trades its dreamlike structure for a more rock approach where Frank Dorittke acts like an octopus with his furious solos and Harold van der Heijden hammers an infernal rhythm, pushing the track back into the limits of a deliciously melodious electronic rock. It's very good and it makes me want to know a little more about Eric van der Heijden's music.
The dark winds of Lost Stars introduce us to the second part of this album, that of Ron Boots. These Aeolus caresses blow in our ears, making stars twinkle and harmonious waves rolling in a harmonic chorus. Vocat Cataclism is the jewel of this collection of unreleased titles. And it seems unthinkable to me that Ron Boots forgot it in the meanders of his home! A sinuous line, with Arabic curves, rises from an introduction filled with winds and atmospheric sounds. Glaucous and slightly resonant pulsations structure a down-tempo where this superb synth line dances with very suggestive ideas. The percussions fall, giving more bite to a rhythm which embraces the languorous Berlin School of Klaus Schulze in his digital period. The rhythm is fascinating and hypnotic with heavy percussions whose each strike resonates around a synth line with contours as sensual than intriguing. A rhythm which becomes heavier towards the 5th minute with more hammered percussions which thunder under twisted synth solos. And Vocat Cataclism to continue his rhythmic journey of electronic insurgent with a more psychedelic approach in the second part. Even if the synth solos whistle with a nice cohesion above a rhythm of lead, the synth and keyboards weave superb lines to the sounds of old progressive anthems of the vintage years. Flirting with the illusion of an approach that seems well structured, the music sails on improvisational tunes where each percussion hit nails us into our armchair and each synth flight transports us to years of chemical dreams. This is a superb title which alone is worth the purchase of FROM THE FORGOTTEN ROOMS OF A LONELY HOUSE. Discreet percussions whose furtive strikes are lost in imaginary murmurs and oblong sinuous reverberations frame wonderfully From the Dark Cellars of the House which is a long atmospheric prelude to Spinning out of Control which, like its title signifies, is shaped in swirling rhythms. The cymbals make their tssitt-tssitt running, trying to avoid the pulses of percussions and other ones which resonate and roll towards a pulsating beat. A heavy sequence hums and surrounds this rhythm, which is decorated with jerky synth pads, aligning their melodious spasms in a long stroboscopic filament and propelling Spinning out of Control in dancefloor rhythms.
For a gift to the spectators present at this concert, FROM THE FORGOTTEN ROOMS OF A LONELY HOUSE is quite a beautiful one! It's a beautiful collection of unpublished music which flows with a strange homogeneity for titles scattered in the attics of time. There is a good jewelry in this chest which contains nice musical charms. And luckily there are still a few CDs left from this amazing collection that will certainly delight fans of Ron Boots and of the music of MorPheuSz. And for those who still hesitate to discover this whole universe, this is the ideal way! It is now available as download as all CD have been sold!
Sylvain Lupari (March 15th, 2011) ****¼*
Available at Groove nl