“This is a nice collection of unreleased tracks which sway between the soft moods of Kitaro and the dark side of Steve Roach”
1 From the Ether 4:05
2 Nucleogenesis 4:50
3 Solar Dub 5:00
4 Rubicon 4:43
5 Desert Light 6:01
6 Distant Nebula 9:59
7 Sun Tempel 7:59
8 Metamorphic Dawn 5:07
(CD-r/DDL 47:04) (V.F.)
(Ambient New Age Berlin School)
This is the very first time my ears have crossed the music of Alpha Wave Movement; a musical project of the American synthesist Gregory T. Kyryluk. As much to say it immediately; I was not very interested in discovering the music of the Massachusetts musician. Especially since THE REGIONS BETWEEN is a collection of forgotten tracks, composed between 2001 and 2006, that had not found their place on any of AWM's albums, whose music is at the borders of the dark ambient with a slight melodious approach that breathes the paths of a Kitaro, post Silk Road, and the very vaporous atmospheres of the Berlin School, Ashra and Tangerine Dream styles, of the 70's. Musical paradoxes that can only stir the curiosity ... and I I was pleasantly surprised.
A distant wind of ether opens the very ambient From the Ether. It's a soft title, fed by breezes and embellished by fine solitary arpeggios which bathe in a peaceful and spacey ambience. A cosmic title where the chords get lost in the infinite, like on the dark and nebulous Distant Nebula. Nucleogenesis is a pretty title that bathes in a very Vangelis mood, especially with its synth symphonic tunes that blow between big chords with well fat resonances before a sequencer line draws a delicate pulse on 3 chords. A slightly hopping rhythm is hatching in a sound constellation that welcomes the movement of the mellotron and its languorous orchestrations radiating like a poetic musical coat. Despite its rhythmic embrace of the discrete EDM maneuvers, Solar Dub retains the honeyed musical approach that perfumes this collection of forgotten titles. It's a title animated by chords whose echo effect sculpts a jerky movement that a synth wraps of long tasty solos and whose rhythmic range is softened by the mist of a mellotron. With its slightly jazzy intro and a cadence surrounded by chords like the wings of a dragonfly dancing on felted percussion strikes, Rubicon is a cross between Nucleogenesis and Solar Dub, if only by its nightclub approach. A soft title full of romance that is slightly boiling of a delicious active life, under a beautiful approach synth/mellotron very close to the terroirs of Vangelis.
After a slow intro with desert breezes, Desert Light comes alive with a Steve Roach's sequenced approach. A very surprising title that plunges us into the heart of Roach's tribal rhythms with its flamboyant synth layers that blacken an already heavy sky. Another great find on this compilation that would have found its place on Drifted Into Deeper Lands, an album that I should listen one day. Another very good title is Sun Tempel, which is a tribute to Manuel Göttsching. Chords jump on a good and intense line of synth/mellotron that wraps it of its solos sweetly languorous. It's getting into a soft dance for calm spirits that accentuates the cadenza with an e-guitar whose brief solos sneak between sober percussions and an astonishing play of the sequencer with confusing strikes. Respecting the musical signature of THE REGIONS BETWEEN, Sun Tempel is wrapped in a heavy mellotron cloak. The deep texture a melodious approach that takes on slightly chthonian tunes with this mix of the synth blows and those of the e-guitar. Metamorphic Dawn goes for a New Age approach with a strong Kitaro essence where a tearful mellotron envelops of its sweet orchestrations theTibetan drumming, bringing Metamorphic Dawn to the borders of Silk Road.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised by THE REGIONS BETWEEN. I'm not saying it's great, but good and surprising. A beautiful mix of genres that brings Kitaro's nostalgic sweetness back to life, Steve Roach's hidden meanders and the sweet melancholy of a Vangelis and his heart-pounding arrangements. A beautiful bedside album that softens the nightmare torment and gives me the taste to go to discover more works of Alpha Wave Movement.
Sylvain Lupari (February 11th, 2007) *****
Available on Harmonic Resonance Recordings Bandcamp
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