“What can I say if it's not good EM a la sauce Yanni which borders much more the New Age style. But should we be ashamed to like it?”
1 Horizons 5:27 2 Sunrise 4:59 3 Visions 5:37 4 Glorious 5:26 5 Drifting 5:25 AD Music – AD142CDr
(E.P./DDL 26:53) (V.F.) (New Age, Synth-Pop and E-Rock)
There is a lot of things going on at Ad Music's offices. The England-based label is more prolific than ever with some new releases, reedition, remixes and E.P. (a lot of those) in order to promote its catalog and its artists among streaming platforms such as ITunes and Spotify. Horizons, a remix of a very popular title from VISIONS, has landed in my DropBox, and I was very curious to hear again the music of Dreamerproject because Kjetil Ingebrigtsen had fairly seduced my ears, and those of my Lise, with the very beautiful and musical (some people will say New Age) The Road to Your Heart which was released in 2012. And since then, I haven't heard anything more from him, excepted for the peaceful Hymne which appeared on the very good collection E-Scape 2015. But before, I wanted to hear VISIONS. The genesis of Horizons...
The introduction of Horizons plunges us a little into the universe of the New Age with sounds of flute caressing the waves of an ocean that one sculpts in our imagination. These elements, as well as some electronic effects, increase as a keyboard draws an embryonic melody and as the rhythm settles down. The approach becomes rather intense with the arrival of electronic percussions and with nervous riffs flickering around this melody that will literally take its momentum while taking care of leaving its traces at the bottom of our eardrums. The rhythm is a little bit abrupt and harmonious twigs spin all around it. If the 1st part is more ethereal, the 2nd proposes a solid electronic rock with good arrangements that seduce after 2 or 3 listening. It's at both times light and heavy and it stays in the borders of New Age and of the Synth-pop of the 90's. Sunrise suggests a delicately jerky rhythm, like a disjointed down-tempo, with a keyboard and some nice arrangements which extract deep sighs of our soul. The melody, torn away from a nevertheless sober synth, waltzes between our two ears with all the intensity of its sigh and tears which win in emotional intensity. This is a very beautiful electronic ballad, with a zest of Vangelis that seduces me much more than Horizons.
The title-track also offers a slightly jerky structure, but more electronic than melodic, which is weaved by the riffs of a nervous keyboard. The arrangements are always so intense with an electronic envelope, the synths moan even more than in Sunrise, which adopts the velocity of the beat. That goes down well in the ears! It's not complicated and it's going to please to a wider audience. It's accessible but not inevitably commercial. Glorious also has a fairly intense structure that is tied around the emotions, a bit like Horizons. But the approach is livelier with a good electronic structure whose flow sounds like the pouring of a water of sounds to Cosmos. Reminds me of Kitaro. Here as on the 4 other titles of this E.P. the music exploits well its 5 minutes between the rhythm, sharper and jerkier here, and short moments of ambient vibes that brings the listener in a Cosmos very New Age. At this level, the 2nd part is unquestionably the most powerful in this mini album by exploiting a very tribal finale. Drifting ends this little musical and harmonic E.P. of Dreamerproject with a beautiful cosmic slow. The movement is surrounded by a multitude of twinkling stars whirling like in a whirlwind of crystal particles. Gradually the title deviates towards a more ballad-like approach with an increased intensity that seeks its way of tearing other sighs from our souls.
Should we be embarrassed to say that VISIONS is a beautiful little album full of tenderness and of catchy melodies on rhythms that are vaguely similar at times? I leave you to find the answer. We like Yanni, David Wright and Vangelis? We will love then the music of Dreamerproject! My Lise and I found it quite good! Even if we are more in the territories of New Age and of Synth-Pop without voices (the music hums quite easily) than the unfathomable labyrinths of Berlin School style of EM and its sub genres. Beautiful, good and not complicated!
Sylvain Lupari (September 28th, 2016) ***½**
Available at AD Music
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