“Transposing turns out to be a strong opus where the minimalist structures are perfect gifts to a sonic enchantment which goes beyond our waits”
1 The Tree 9:39 2 Transposing Mind 18:46 3 The Tower 13:46 4 One Day we will Walk Together 8:43 5 Destination Unknown 12:15 Tower Tree Music
(CD 63:14) (V.F.) (Berlin School, Psybient textures)
Weird murmurs (African spectres?) which spin in a sound envelope full of quirky tones (rustles of leaves?) are swirling as being propelled by a sling shot. Reverberating waves infiltrate between the jets which revolve in loops here, creating an apocalyptic atmosphere where the rustles and the sectarian warbles dip us literally into a hostile universe. These 90 seconds which fill the introduction of The Tree are the witnesses of the sound aestheticism which surrounds TRANSPOSING; the very first album of The Tower Tree. And who is The Tower Tree? It is the union of two craftsmen of the Belgian EM scene; Didier Dewachtere (BySenses) and Johan de Paepe (Owann) who have teamed up within the framework of the last B-Wave Festival which took place in Limburg, Belgium, in last November. In solo, each artist had rather seduced the spheres of EM with fairly different albums where the influences of Klaus Schulze, BySenses for Frigments-Fragments, were stigmatized in an approach of psybient and down-tempo, and those of a Tangerine Dream swaying between the 70's and the 80's, Owann for Particles, were particularly soaked with a very oniric approach. Furthermore the tracks Destination Unknown, although slightly different here, and One Day we will Walk Together, are respectively taken from albums Frigments-Fragments and Particles. And considering the beauty of these albums, the expectations were rather high for these two friends who were very shy at the idea of participating to this festival. And in the end, TRANSPOSING turns out to be a strong opus where the minimalist structures are perfect gifts to a sonic enchantment which goes beyond our waits.
The delicacy of the sequences which skip in the carbonizing residues of these 90 seconds is quickly harpooned by a line of sneaky bass which floats as a shadow of rhythm in order to stimulate percussions of which the sharp rollings are structuring an up-tempo beat gesticulating with brief and dynamic jolts. The Tree shakes and spits a fluid rhythm in spite of the jerks and the incisive orchestral movements. Synth layers filled of poetry infiltrate this lively and hard tempo which remains all the same musically attractive. A structure of rhythm which subsides at the dawn of 3 minutes, just to bounce of more beautiful with organic tones which sparkle in the sharpness of the pulsations and the percussions of which the flow sounds weakly touches now like the one of a machine-gun spitting balls of hip-hop and pieces of metallic elytrons. A second ambient passage, always so brief, brings this backbone of rhythm in a passage filled of psy-trance elements before it pops out again with an even more violence captured in synthesized perfumes which smell so like in the musical patterns of a certain Tangerine Dream. The Tree kicks off an album structured on a similar pattern where the beat is attacked by deep moods of an unreal universe of tones and sounds. An universe which will seduce you even more in the subsequent listening so much the wealth of its sound fauna is embroidered in originality and boldness. Like the signature of BySenses! After this spasmodic rhythm, the superb Transposing Mind transports us in the contemporary territories of Klaus Schulze. It's 18 minutes of pure exploratory happiness where the amplitude of tones is such as we have the feeling to discover new horizons to each new listening. Following a rather cerebral overture where the brain tries to discern a flora cultivated of noises and sound-effects which sparkle in the sound charms of wet pulsations, other more keen and more steady pulsations pierce a cloud of wandering voices filled by a bituminous fog. This first structure of minimalist rhythm is magnetizing and its hypnotic course is decorated with fineries which will seduce the most demanding swallowers of sounds in you. First of all, the reflection of the rhythm! Its shadow spits a kind genre of tribal gurgling which amplifies its relatively passive pace. It's lively! Enough to stimulate a kind of esoteric trance where the cosmos encloses this desire to burst. I can't help it, but I have this vague impression here to hear the rhythmic ancestor of Chronology Part 8, from Jarre, to say at least its primary skeleton. Chords are dragging adrift, weaving solos weakling of whom the melancholic approach is melting to these synth layers filled of faded murmurs and of cosmic effects. This structure is so intrusive that we notice hardly the crescendo that militarizes it at the end of 10 minutes. Slow riffs gallops now on an ambient passage, with a rather industrial perfume in the tones, where the psybient of BySenses bickers with the lyric of Owann. The synth layers, and these choruses that they spit, throw here a vampiric atmosphere which is similar to Schulze's post In Blue. Or still to these nightmarish waves of Remy. And this crescendo! It overflows its axis with organic tones which amplify an approach either tribal or esoteric, like a Steve Roach taken in a gearing of sequences of the Jerome Froese's years in Tangerine Dream. This is very good. And The Tower is not outdone! Sequences tinkle in fogs of voices and in layers to the colors of aridity. The lively and undulatory movement sees getting grafted by ectoplasmic murmurs, of shadows of bass and of silky orchestrations. And when I search my memory, my library of sounds and music, I hear here the premise of Melt by Leftfield. After a short ambiospherical passage, the orchestral synth layers propel again the rhythmic structure of The Tower in a spasmodic approach, on the other hand lighter than that of The Tree, where the sequences answer their echoes. Forging than a kind of electronic hymn closer to the lands of Electronica with an effect of stop'n'go where the heavy layers of synth eventually wrap The Tower in an ambient phase. There is little to add about Destination Unknown and One Day we will Walk Together except that these two tracks show that in duet The Tower Tree transcends their respective styles. And that TRANSPOSING is the outcome of two musicians who decided to leave their imprints in this wonderful universe that is EM. Superbly delicious and highly musical, it exceeds my expectations from the beginning to the end!
Sylvain Lupari (December 14th, 2015) ****½*
Disponible au The Tower Tree Bandcamp