“A very beautiful album where Berlin School wanders in territories soaked of ether”
1 Enter into Resonances 29:22
2 Infinite Resonance 22:50
3 Heavenly Resonance 17:48
(CD/DDL 60:00) (V.F.)
(Berlin School)
The art of reinventing oneself! One cannot say that Sequentia Legenda gropes it without investing it in its musical orientations. Still riding the lunar plains of Klaus Schulze, the French musician modifies somewhat the timbre of his musical reflections by using the frequency 432 Hz, that of nature and the universe, in order to bring us where only he knows how to do it so well: in the cozy discomfort of our inner mind. In this symphony of atmospheric electronic music (EM) where the timbres resonate with a thousand sonic artifices, RESONANCES multiplies 3 minimalist visions on parallel rhythms where the sequences stagger and zigzag with a melodic vision always linked to their evolution. Faithful to his musical signature, Laurent Schieber proposes 3 long structures whose similarities merge as soon as the atmospheric barriers are crossed. A very beautiful album where the Berlin School style wanders in territories soaked with ether.
Enter into Resonances whets our appetite with a bouncy movement that is clever in its rhythmic slalom. A nice bass shadow spreads its buzzing layers, creating the perfect link between the sequencer's limpid tone and this dark appearance filled with astral drizzle. Its muted impulses are the source of divinatory modulation for those trying to fall asleep next to their torments. The sharp points of the sequencer's tones flutter like swarms of fiery fireflies. They sting us and penetrate our shell of insensitivity, at least mine, in order to transport us into a cerebral universe where the stars cradle our aphasic state which floats in a Milky Way close to our imagination. Minimalist, the movement staggers more and more under an atmospheric shroud which extends always a little more its sleepy density. This first rhythmic skeleton of RESONANCES extends its spasms of serenity over a distance of more or less 10 minutes before a mass of atmospheric tones takes hold of it to suffocate its vitality as Enter into Resonances crosses the astral barrier of 15 minutes. A powerful spray of wiisshh and woosshh, followed by layers of absent humming, annihilate this rhythmic presence, which comes back to life a few seconds later with shimmering reflections that seem to be lost in this mass of granulated resonances. An atmospheric fight between the sequencer and the winds blown with force feeds the last 10 minutes of Enter into Resonances which blows hot and cold, as much on the level of its ambiences as on its premonitory rhythm. So is Enter into Resonances, so are the next two tracks which inhabit the 60 minutes of this last rather celestial opus from Sequentia Legenda.
Infinite Resonance also begins with a zigzagging movement of the sequencer. The structure is minimalist and spans over 10 minutes with jumping keys that fall curtly. The abrupt way each key falls to the rhythmic floor structures a jerky effect flowing in a series over a rhythmic structure that is still quite fluid. A synth shadow begins to obscure this frenetic static rhythmic sequence around the 3 minute mark. Quietly, this good Berlin School articulated on bright and vivid sequences sees its rhythmic ceiling filling up with this chthonian haze that gradually brings Infinite Resonance in a long atmospheric hibernation at the door of the 10th minute. The sequencer evaporates its rhythmic vision under a dense mass of sounds where our ears perceive distant and dull beats under a thick layer of organ that gradually dissipates its anaesthetic hold. We enter a short phase almost silent in order to allow the title to undertake a mutation which leads to a gaseous phase where layers of absent voices hum in a sibylline atmosphere. Beats without rhythmic direction persist to be heard under this layer of voices where undulating layers also drift without atmospheric direction. In fact, Infinite Resonance is torn with more vehemence than in the previous title between its rhythmic embryo, constantly growing, and its mass of reverberations which will accentuate the depth of a title whose denouement passes by an intense atmospheric flight in its last third. Sequentia Legenda exploits here to the maximum his influences of Klaus Schulze in his pre-Mirage period, flirting even with the Blackdance episode. An ascending and repetitive movement of the sequencer inaugurates the ethereal dance of Heavenly Resonance. Painted of synth warbling, the rhythm follows a zigzagging pattern with more grace than in Infinite Resonance, even if the sequences fall just as roughly. The style is very analogue Klaus Schulze-era of Berlin School with an anaesthetic haze gradually covering the rhythm which gradually unravels into a line of spasmodic kicks. This completely unexpected turn is new in the register of the French musician-synthesist who likes to privilege structures as uniform as chloroformed. Here, Heavenly Resonance is transformed into a form of cosmic electronic rock which overflows beyond its 9th minute. It is in a more contemporary vision that the track evolves far from the usual framework of Sequentia Legenda with a permutation of roles that brings us to an atmospheric finale even more intense than that of Infinite Resonance.
Handling with its usual dexterity structures that are similar without copying each other, Sequentia Legenda is equal to itself on its latest album, except for the last moments of the surprising Heavenly Resonance. And this even while reorienting its music towards a sound diapason as close to the Cosmos as to the surface of an Earth always influenced by the lunar movements of its music. RESONANCES offers 60 minutes of an EM whose atmospheric intensity cuts through minimalist rhythms with the grace of a surgeon of astral sonorities.
Sylvain Lupari (June 2nd, 2022) ****½*
Available at Sequentia Legenda Bandcamp