Spinnet Syzygies (2019)

“Syzygies has everything that the psybient and ambient lover that are drowned in the Dark Ambient's territories, can dream of”

1 Unitary 9:14

2 Decoherence 8:45

3 Vicious Walks 6:47

4 Secant 6:57

5 Transcendence 8:55

6 Centroid 9:00

7 Large Scale 11:17

Exosphere exo09

(DDL 61:01) (V.F.)

(Psybient, Dark Ambient)

There are some great things happening in California, and more specifically in the studios of Synphaera Records which still surprises me with an album that has all the elements to seduce lovers of avant-garde EM. Spinnet is a Greek composer and sculptor of electronic atmospheres where the Dark Ambient flirts with psybient in a spectrum that goes as far as the good old ambiospherical Berlin School. SYZYGIES is a first sonic essay on Synphaera's sub-label, Exosphere. And expect your pleasure to grow with the use ...

Balls, jingles, morphic gases and various percussive effects, as of ambiances, wander between the slow wooshh that propel these heterogeneous noises in the atmospheres of Unitary. A section isolates itself and structures an ambient rhythm whose minimalist skeleton sparkles more than it beats in a setting that amplifies its presence by the addition of synth layers, pads as well as obituary vibes that are still rejected at the doors of Dark Ambient. Where are we going with these first lines of this album? This body of work describes some aspects of the relation between the geometry of sound and the algebra of rhythm. That process of moving from the concrete to the abstract scenario is known, appropriately enough, as abstraction. Through abstraction, the underlying syzygies between sound and rhythm, thought and emotion, logic and impulse are extracted. And following this explanation, this vision of Spinnet, SYZYGIES makes sense from this abstract waltz of Unitary! Decoherence also begins on these bubbles of sounds that tinkle and resound on a sheet of silence. Gradually, the ambience adds elements that plunge my ears into a world of sounds where I distinguish waves that are lost in a tonal density which in turn dissipates its growth in a line of bass pulsations. Its strokes resound and this resonance deploys misshapen hoops whose accidental flow forges a jerky movement in a world of psybient. I'm on the alert when a series of bearings woven into non-identifiable tones animate a rhythm that makes my neurons react more than my feet. But definitely, Decoherence is quite a title. And how to survive it? By its opposite!

This is what Vicious Walks does, and its soft rhythm gathers these percussive marbles that constantly hang in SYZYGIES 'corridors of ambiences. They get grafted on this ambulant walk of Vicious Walks where we can no longer meditate. I like those fat and soft chords that seem to stretch their existence by clinging to the fluid of the previous chord. There is a lot of intensity in Secant which is within the confines of Industrial Dark Ambient with a buzzing line that increases its intensity in a long corridor filled of exhausted wooshh. Transcendence continues this sound exploration of Secant with a slow march woven on subtle loops of an ambient beat where are exploding violent voice effects. I have the impression of hearing Plastikman spreading his music for the Devil and his guests. The universe remains in psybient with stagnant percussive elements while the pace is mesmerizing. However, I found the bursts of voices a little bit annoying ... Like a train slowly rolling on a wooden bridge, Centroid is engulfed in a sound mass that challenges our imagination. The flow advances slowly to reach a comfort zone that is joined by a deaf gurgling line. Another line, more musical, undulates in a decor which gradually weaves lines of distortions and of reverberations to reach an intensity solidified by sober electronic percussions. Large Scale comes to close this highly interesting Spinnet album with another obituary walking approach. A slow walk finely adorned with white noises and where breathes a machine which sculpts a slow and invading rhythm. Fine percussions sculpt a cerebral trance rhythm that accentuates his vision with lines of celestial voices and other noises coming from the dust of cosmos. Oblong synth blades scrawl evanescent whispers while Large Scale continues its hypnotic walk that looks like Klaus Schulze, but not too close. In short, a very good finale that makes our imagination works with a flora of tones as captivating as these haunting rhythms whose ambient pace drinks as much from the fountains of the Berlin School as of psybient, with a greater thirst for the unknown territories of the beyond.

This SYZYGIES is another great discovery from the American label Synphaera Records. Available only in 24bits high-quality downloadable format, Spinnet's debut album has everything that the psybient and ambient lover that are drowned in the Dark Ambient's territories, can dream of.

Sylvain Lupari (06/08/19) *****

SynthSequences.com

Available at Exosphere Bandcamp