“This is a small jewel of minimalist music where the loops of rhythms and the canvas of ambiences are parading with nuances and subtleties”
1 The Approach (Extended Version) 28:29 2 Into the Sequence 20:14 3 Somewhere (Extended Version 23:14 4 Vibrations (Extended Version) 24:43 5 Solitudes Lunaires 24:46 6 Au Revoir 21:57 Sequentia Legenda Music
(DDL 143:25) (V.F.) (Minimalist Berlin School)
If Laurent Schieber had been the manager of The Beatles, the fame of the famous British quartet would have knocked down the borders of Mars. And there I don't compare the music of Sequentia Legenda to that of The Beatles (oh that not!), but the relentless work of the likeable synthesist from France to promote his music on the Internet and on various social networks is a real lesson on the art of marketing. EXTENDED is truly a powerful object of advertising as aggressive as a thick cloud of bees on a wedding cake since that Sequentia Legenda has announced that this next album was going to be made in association with P'Cock's drummer Tommy Betzler. I believe that it was in spring 2016. And maybe even before! If there is a saying which says that any aggressive advertising can hide a rubbish, a thing difficult to sell, it's definitely not the case here. And it's necessary to take the title for what it is! Which are extended versions of 3 titles which have appeared on the Blue Dream and Amira albums. Plus 3 other tracks that Sequentia Legenda has prolonged to the maximum with the aim to offer a double album of this subliminal music which draws its sources from the long hypnotic and repetitive movements of the Master Klaus Schulze. After a version of The Approach, from the Blue Dream album, prolonged of 7 minutes, Into the Sequences begins its journey between our ears smoothly. A little digression here! Why I don't write anything more about The Approach? That will be the same reason for Somewhere and Vibrations! The added minutes bring nothing new except that it reaches the objective to put us in a deeper hypnosis immersion. It's also a track that I also reviewed, and which always remains very pleasant to listen to, even in an extended version. The pleasure is thus prolonged as would say my lovely Lise! So, a distant wave extricates itself from the oblivion in order to float lazily with jingles. We are in familiar territory because the synth layers and these jingles which peck at them are wearing the seal of Sequentia Legenda. These layers move hardly, revealing their influences with fine nuances in a movement which remains rather sedentary. But we sense some small loops taking shape at the same time as the percussions sparkle in the background. Little by little, the ambient rhythm of Into the Sequence is getting on foot with delicate jumps which stretch their effects like the undulations of a flame shaken by quiet breezes. The movement abounds of voices hidden in these layers while the pace progresses like the march of a penguin in search of its last den. Beautiful and quiet, as all the minimalist EM stemming from this generation, Into the Sequence rests in its sedative sequence even with its deceptive effect of velocity.
Solitudes Lunaires had on me the same effect as the splendid Fly Over Me! The introduction really sounds like Klaus Schulze in his Body Love years. And unlike Into the Sequence, the intensity makes its presence felt from the first seconds. Small steps of the sequencer are running through the lunar scenery of this introduction, while Laurent Schieber forges these tireless loops extracted from the blue vapors of the layers of ether. Chimes lead the charge around the 8 minutes, leading the title to its rush of adrenaline with successive beats of which the jolts draw a strange cosmic rodeo. The rhythm breaks down from its Body Love's grip to stretch its jerky spasms that exhilarate the drum whose strikes will lose their brilliance in an avalanche of voices that falls around the 14th minute. It's the art of minimalist music simplified that Sequentia Legenda installs with his armada of small sequenced steps that fidget in a spirit of wandering amplified by these layers of seraphic voices. Solitudes Lunaires is divided into 4 distinct blocks and in recent minutes respect this pinnacle of emotion with a more sustained rhythm and synth effects that compensate for the lack of solos that cements this strange relationship of seduction to the music of Sequentia Legenda. Written following a request from Rebekkah Hilgraves in memory of Edgar Froese, Au Revoir is the most intense title in Laurent Schieber's repertoire. Its introduction is woven in the vapors of ether and of floating voices. So the music already displays a high level of intensity with these layers and percussive rattling effects that shake the dormant atmospheres of the first 4 minutes. The loops of rhythms are embroidered around electronic percussions, repetitive sequences and expertly cut synth pads. They roll constantly with the support of synth effects crumbled into stroboscopic jerks. Percussions fuel the passion at the same time as layers of lyrical voices try to soften it. It's this contrast between intensity and serenity that is the charm of this title, a bit like a long throe of passion that two lovers refuse to conclude. It's Sequentia Legenda in all his splendor. Flooded by Klaus Schulze's influences, his biggest strength is his unique musical signature that stands out in this exponential pool of emerging artists in the field of EM, most notably the Berlin School style. Here, the music is repetitive. On the other hand, she avoids the pitfalls of redundancy with fairy fingering.
And in the end, EXTENDED is a little gem of minimalist music where loops of rhythms and canvases of ambience parade with as many nuances as subtleties, creating harmonic masses that are never haloed of synth solos. A rather unique fact that perfectly describes the thousand and one splendors of this album that I loved from the first to the last second!
Sylvain Lupari (October 8th, 2016) *****
Available at Sequentia Legenda Bandcamp