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Writer's pictureSylvain Lupari

Rudy Adrian Desert Realms (2008)

Updated: May 17, 2023

Between Ray Lynch and Steve Roach very soaring with a zest of tribal

1 Saguaro Silhouette 7:42

2 Pathway 4:55

3 Desert Realms 8:02

4 Circling Hawk 3:25

5 Fading Light 4:04

6 Subterranean River 6:30

7 Cloudburst 6:31

8 Starlight 8:43

9 Of Clouds and Mountains 8:08

10 Rocks Under Moonlight 8:09

11 At the Edge of the Desert 3:18

(CD/DDL 69:28) (V.F.)

(Ambient Music, Celestial New Age)

It's inspired by a trip to Utah National Park, that Rudy Adrian has concocted DESERT REALMS. This new album is comprised of 11 arid soundscapes carried on the warm winds of a synth with heavy and moving layers and flutes that pierce these immense architectural stone dunes.

Delicate chiming arpeggios open Saguaro Silhouette. A gentle wave intermingled with Native American vocals, like in Circling Hawk, criss-crosses a desert plain where crotchet bells and Tibetan cymbals cover an atonal movement. Only the wind offers a slight ripple in a sound structure as rich as mystical. A fluty sound floats over the interlocking percussions in the opening of Pathway. Here, as on the whole of the New Zealand synthesist's 12th opus, the movement is linear and without shape except for a few fine modulations that wander through his sonic memories. The title-track is a long peaceful tribune about the desert lands of the American Southwest. A track with a musical poetry that takes the shape of a sometimes dramatic structure on a synth with slightly more striking blasts as on Cloudburst and its spiral flute tone. Fading Light is synonymous of tenderness and nostalgia. Subterranean River follows the same musical paths that we can find on this arid work. Samplings of a desert nature are around each track, like on the ambient and meditative Of Clouds and Mountains and Rocks Under Moonlight as well as on the melodious At the Edge of the Desert which is quite relaxing with its bird songs.

Obviously DESERT REALMS is not for the Berlin School or heavy progressive electronic music audience. It's an album of sidereal sweetness filled with melodious essays that may appeal to fans of so-called landscapes style or astral travelers who are able to go out without moving. Between Ray Lynch and Steve Roach very soaring with a zest of tribal.

Sylvain Lupari (April 17th, 2009) ***½**

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