“Wonderful, great and catchy are words that are constantly in the universe of Wellenfeld”
1 No Way 5:50
2 Big Bang 5:42
3 Dark Matter 7:18
4 Dance with Sequence 6:55
5 Slow Fall (Album Mix) 5:43
6 In Control 6:27
7 Digital Spirit 9:15
8 Meteora 7:25
9 New Time 6:07
10 Sonnenwind 6:17
(CD-r/DDL 66:59) (V.F.)
(E-Rock, Electronica, IDM)
A dull pulse initiates the symphonic intro of No Way. It pulses under a wavy synth wave and youthful looking chorus. Fine piano notes emerge. They accompany the military march of drums that are wrapped in thick layers of philharmonic blasts of synth. As a result, No Way takes off with lively drum rolls, nervous and jerky sequences. Juvenile choruses drown in solid hypnotic percussion/pulses, while synth chords flow and flutter around a huge pulsating beat filled with cosmic haze. With this melodic approach tied to a heavy hypnotic beat, No Way launches THE BIG BANG in the same way that Phase V unrolled its 11 musical canvases. Heavy, pulsating rhythms, jumping sequences in good spasmodic crossovers and nice arrangements, both cosmic and orchestral, line the 10 electro-cosmic melodies that revolve around Wellenfeld's 6th CD.
The title-track follows on the ashes of No Way. Honeyed, the intro floats in a cosmic sphere before embracing a more nervous tangent with a jerky rhythm that releases a soft spiral melody. A melody that loops on a rhythm that becomes more frenetic with toothless chords that stumble in a cosmic ambience à la Jean-Michel Jarre. Dark Matter is the first favorite of the album. It's a superb track that starts in uncertainty before marrying a fine pulsating movement. A light dance music phase with sequences that sway melancholically among melodious layers that multiply and overlap on a hypnotic rhythm. A good sequencer movement escapes to form a large spiral loop that criss-crosses itself among decorative musical elements such as muffled percussions and cosmic sound effects before returning to its original structure. It's a great track that never ceases to seduce. And there are a few on this THE BIG BANG. Dance with Sequence follows with a strobe line from the sequencer. Sequences and percussions clash over a slightly jerky swinging beat. The movement is fluid with a good pace of sequences that flow like a disjointed movement while a Kraftwerk-like melodic approach is carefully hidden in violin strata, worthy of spastic dance floors. It's heavy and catchy, topped with a nice melodic approach just like on New Time and Sonnenwind, two tracks that oscillate between the worlds of Moonbooter and Element 4.
Slow Fall (Album Mix), just like Meteora, is a ballad where deaf hammerings structure a lascivious rhythm adorned with a beautiful melody and topped with morphic strata that waltz in dark cosmos. In Control continues this exploration of evolving rhythms. If a heavy pounding launches its rhythmic structure, the rhythm deviates quietly towards a more melodic approach where the sequential movement escapes and takes an ascending tangent to embrace a stormier passage with limpid sequences that flutter on a more nervous structure. Digital Spirit is the most beautiful track of THE BIG BANG. Hesitant piano notes confront a sequence whose sparkling keys jump in iridescent mists with dramatic contours. The rhythm is formed. It is slow and suave, like a cosmic down tempo, and soon becomes surrounded by a spheroidal sequential movement. A movement where limpid and jerky chords swirl and drift on an evolving structure. The melody hooks the soul as much as the ear, with this fusion of piano and keyboard that unleashes melodious chords on a slow, bewitching movement. A movement that parsimoniously modifies its level of intensity, but which maintains this harmonious and dramatic musical canvas. It's very beautiful, good and catchy! Three words that constantly recur in Wellenfeld's universe.
Sylvain Lupari (November 14th, 2011) ***½**
Available at MellowJet Records