“Electronic Muse isn't an easy ambient album to tame, but the aficionados of the first years of the ambient Berlin School style should however be pleased by it”
1 Electronic Muse Part I 16:26
2 Electronic Muse Part II 9:16
3 Electronic Muse Part III 16:08
4 Electronic Muse Part IV 11:37
(DDL 53:27) (V.F.)
(Berlin School)
Do you remember Adelbert Von Deyen? Of his first albums where the ambient rhythms used to rose and tumbled down dunes of sounds soaked in ether? It's a little, very much, the ambiances of the second album of Son of Ohm to be have been released in 2018. A bit like Blackbirds, ELECTRONIC MUSE was conceived in spontaneity. If the idea of a tone embalmed of iodine and ether and of a specific flow germinated in the head of Leonardo Soundweaver for a long time, it's only after having designed this exact synth patch that Son of Ohm undertook the writing and recording of his 4th album which is available only in downloadable format. One week was enough for the mix, the effects of gliss overdubs and mastering so that in the end ELECTRONIC MUSE offers a texture worthy of a good old ambient Berlin School. Distortion waves and electronic chirps illuminate the route of organ pads which open the ambient procession of Electronic Muse Part I. We are in the cradle of the Berlin School of the Blackdance and the New Age of Earth years with this mist of ether that advances as the title eats the seconds of its time. Slow to develop, Electronic Muse Part I is like a sonic bird raptor that whirls in the loops of its circles while the rhythmic structure sculpts this ambient pace where the sequences go up and down an invisible staircase. The sweep of the layers leads us into a voracious whirlwind and the effects of distortions tear down this mesh of rhythm and euthanasiatic moods with jerky jolts which flirt with the psychedelic approaches of that era. The second part of the title offers a more musical approach with a more fluid rhythm and more disparate sound effects montage. Electronic Muse Part II advances on hot breezes before colliding with a first wall of very reactive sound effects. Circles, like kaleidoscopic effects, spin with increased velocity whereas jingles of woods are dancing tap-dancing in an environment blown by sounds and steams of sound machinery. At first undisciplined, these clacking of wood find a din cohesion in a storm of spheroidal elements as much disturbing as the unleashing of the winds and the effects of this title purely of ambiances ... non-meditative. Electronic Muse Part III is the most animated title in ELECTRONIC MUSE. Its opening is drinking of the percussive ambiences and effects of Part II. A delightful movement of the sequencer emerges from a convulsive tap dance, straightening Part II in a beautiful electronic texture which flows between stereo effects of distortions as well as parasitic and lunar sounds in a structure as musical as the 2nd part of Part I. Electronic Muse Part IV finishes this last opus of Son of Ohm with a nice ambient structure without noises but all in emotions with a cloud of layers to the paradisiacal colors. I must admit that the learning of ELECTRONIC MUSE is not done smoothly at the level of the eardrums. The sound effects as well as these synth and organs pads that flicker like flames too drenched with alcohol require greater musical curiosity, but should however please the aficionados of this time of Manuel Göttsching and Klaus Schulze first albums, without forgetting the nebulous world of Adelbert Von Deyen. Pure ambient Berlin School that follows Blackbirds very closely! That's what is waiting for you with this latest Son of Ohm's album; ELECTRONIC MUSE. Sylvain Lupari (October 3rd, 2018) ***½** SynthSequences.com Available on Son of Ohm Bandcamp