“Vandisphere is a solid album of EDM which is tied solidly to the roots of Berlin School and of cosmic music”
1 Gujmandandi 7:32 2 Something that Never Happened 5:10 3 Around the World 9:17 4 Dawn on the Northpole 6:22 5 Jervis Bay 7:21 6 In the Forest of Eternity 6:24 7 Vandisphere 12:06 Vanderson Music
(DDL 54:16) (V.F) (EDM, Berlin School and Cosmic Music)
The breezes and the layers are of ether. They float like these nice ambiospherical mirages of the Blackdance years. Except that we reach barely the bar of the 30 seconds when some breathless sequences flutter from an ear to the other one, weaving a structure of rhythm without anchoring which is transported by an oscillatory movement of bass tones sequences. Layers flying against current, Gujmandandi offers its embryonic rhythm and its harmonious layers to a solid pattern of percussions/pulsations where spit industrial gases. Between Jean-Michel Jarre, for the structure of techno/cosmic rhythm, and Klaus Schulze, for these captivating layers of ether, Gujmandandi dives into a kind Arabic techno. Airs of the Middle East are perfuming a steady and very lively rhythm, while that arpeggios stylized in the techno of the Chronology years forge the first one of the numerous earworms of VANDISPHERE. The neck which rolls and the fingers which tap those knees trying constantly to make stamp their foot, this last album of Vanderson offers a collection of 7 tracks all oriented towards a model of Electronic Dance Music (EDM). A beautiful album I should add which is offered on the download platform of Vanderson where the perfumes of Berlin School and the allegories of the cosmic music go hand in hand with rhythms as fluid as vertical.
Something that Never Happened begins by a shrill concert of stridulations. Arpeggios stroll in the background and their ringing sculpt a lunar melody which will haunt our ears well even after the arrival of a heavy and curt rhythm which skips as in a kind of Ambient House decorated with beautiful melodies rung by a keyboard, one would say a glass anvil, and whistled by a synth, one would say extraterrestrials' airs, rather creative. In spite of the pugnacity of the heavy rhythms, the cosmic atmospheres and the electronic effects are in the tone and remain rather attractive. It's with stroboscopic harmonious threads that Around the World begins its trip between our ears. The rhythm is heavy and slow. Tied up well by these finely jerky lines, it limps and vibrates in an approach which is quite near the tribal roots of the Middle East with Berber singings on a structure which allies techno and dance and where the synth spits beautiful harmonies flavored by the fragrances of a saxophone. It's rather different from the Vanderson repertoire and it's very catchy. Melodies, as rhythmic as harmonious, will haunt your brain much later after the listening. The play of the percussions is also rather brilliant here. Dawn on the Northpole is a very danceable piece of music with arpeggios and sequences which collide and clink in a pattern of World Music. By offering its circular sequences and its cosmic waves to a heavy and pulsatory rhythm, Jervis Bay approaches a little the formula of Gujmandandi. If the tribal essence is absent, the structure of rhythm, less nervous, stays fluid and offer of beautiful impulses of harmonious sequences while the bass line weaves a kind of Funk approach. In the Forest of Eternity is a little bit in the same style. Its 6 minutes offer a hopping rhythm and a melodious line of sequences which winds between the humming and the elastic jumps of a heavy bass line to weave a hypnotic musical hitch while the arpeggios hum a lighter melody. The title-track offers all the figures of the Berlin School style with an ambient introduction weaved in dark and nebulous lines. Prisms clink and a shadow of a synth congeals a harmony which moves quietly, enlighten even some atmospheres in crescendo which will remind to some this long deployment so attractive in the opening of Silver Scale by Tangerine Dream. The rhythm which comes is sculptured by a movement of 5 oscillating sequences and by percussions which roll nervously. The synth spits these harmonies drawn from a saxophone that we heard in Around the World. The longest title in VANDISPHERE, Vandisphere is a kind of mirror. A kind of sonic and rhythmic reflection of the 40 other minutes of an album which establishes for sure this perception that Vanderson offers more and more a lively and creative EM which crosses easily its borders without denying the origins. This is some pretty good EDM with all the ingredients of the cosmic music and the Berlin School style.
Sylvain Lupari (January 4th, 2016) ***¾**
Available at Vanderson Bandcamp