“There is Perge! Now there is Sequential Dreams”
1 Journey to the Heart of Time 22:52 2 Across Dimensions (avec Altocirrus) 15:22 3 One Thousand Years (avec Johan Tronestam 6:00 4 Arrival Point (avec Synthesist) 5:27 5 Distant Signals (avec David Bruce Davis 5:27 6 Brave New World 7:25 7 Descendants 14:04 Sequential Dreams
(DDL 76:38) (V.F.) (TD's E-rock Berlin School)
There is Perge! There is now this international consortium of emergent musicians, Sequential Dreams. Backed up with the collaboration of Altocirrus, Johan Tronestam, Synthesist and David Bruce Davis; Kuutana draws his inspiration and creates his music in the soundscapes of Tangerine Dream, period Green Desert to Exit while giving a wink to the fiery electronic rock of the Seattle years. Offered in a downloadable format, the artwork from Andreas Schwietzke is simply sublime, LOST DIMENSIONS is an electronic ode with a futuristic flavor where a traveler of time escapes an imminent danger on Earth by travelling 1 000 years later in the future. But it's not this story which catches our attention on this album. It's the music! I rarely heard a music which sounds so near Tangerine Dream as this 6th opus of Sequential Dreams. Ron Charron has spied on the tones of the Dream through its ages, reproducing successfully those metallic riffs, the solos of Edgar, the sequences of Chris Franke and the percussions of Iris Camaa in a mosaic of rhythms and atmospheres which denies not at all its sources of inspiration.
A flute with the soft perfumes of mysticism from Legend floats in the opening of Journey to the Heart of Time. It's very ethereal, even if a small movement of ambient rhythm shakes its bones which skip stealthily. The percussions which fall share the decoration with some snoring layers of which the vampiric undulations are waving slowly. There is a thin line of sequences which bustles nervously in the background, but the onset of this long sonic river remains veiled of mystery. The layers of synth throw an Arabian aura. They are at the heart of the first transitory movement of Journey to the Heart of Time which goes to an up-tempo structured on nervous electronic percussions. It's a lively and jerky rhythm with sequences which oscillate heavily and percussions of which the echoes of the rollings weave a structure which has the perfumes of Green Desert. The guitar of Kuutana does very Edgar Froese with ethereal and harmonious solos which roll in loops while the riffs of keyboard incites our souvenirs to remember the Exit years. There are Arabian perfumes which roam everywhere, sounding out of place with this futuristic decoration. But we don't care. Only the music matters! And it's good. If Journey to the Heart of Time turns out to be a difficult fight to assimilate all these charms which pass in transit around a long structure divided between slightly modified phases of rhythm, between up-tempos and a down-tempo and between some more or less brief ambient passages, Across Dimensions hits right in the target.
Composed with Altocirrus its opening is appealing with this stream of sequences which oscillates in an ambient ascending movement. Riffs of keyboard and breezes of voice adorn this presentation where the movement of sequences loosens little by little a slightly stroboscopic thin line. The approach always does very TD, the purpose resolutely looked for by Sequential Dream, and the rhythm is getting melt in a more fluid structure with a nice movement of sequences that Kuutana merges in sound fineries just like in the so famous Virgin years. Ron Charron is doing quite a work here by peeling the sounds and atmospheres of the Dream to recreate them in a perfect illusion. Everything is in the tone! The rhythm takes the shape of the sequences and percussions storms from Franke while the guitar and the keyboard layers inhale the reveries of Froese and the romanticism of Schmoelling. The 2nd part is simply exhilarating with sequences cut in a glass factory and of which the harmonious fragility resists to the strikings of percussions. Here we dive into the Stratosfear universe (by moments we are there) with riffs of acoustic guitar and these atmospheres borrowed from the mysteries of 3 A.M. at the Border of the Marsh. But Kuutana stays in the originality by concocting rhythms and ambiences which are inspired by this period, in particular a superb solo of synth, while having a very personalized cachet. One Thousand Years, written with Johan Tronestam, as well as Brave New World are nervous e-rock inspired by the Seattle years and the TDI one's, in particular Mars Polaris for Brave New World with rhythms fed by a percussions game which is very near the style of Iris Camaa. Although centered on the same approach of electronic rock, Distant Signals distances itself by its heavy and juicy sequences which oscillate peacefully in resonant riffs, breezes of flutes decorated with ethereal voices and by a psychedelic backgrounds being inspired by the good years of Pink Floyd, as of White Eagle. Descendants adorns itself with these metallic elements with a long motionless structure where sequences and percussions weave a nervous rhythm that a synth caresses by some nice enveloping layers. A mixture of Green Desert and White Eagle! A mixture which makes of LOST DIMENSIONS an inescapable to the fans of Tangerine Dream, all periods aimed. There is Perge and now Sequential Dreams!
Sylvain Lupari (December 16th, 2015) *****
Available at Borders Edge Music