“Even in an ambient envelope, Eric's music breathes the magic of the vintage years”
1 Nightmare 3:18
2 Sorrowsong 4:40
3 Median Meditation 13:39
4 Oceans 21:36
(DDL 43:14) (V.F.)
(Ambient Berlin School)
There is a lot of music in Eric G's vaults. I know that the Swedish musician-synthesist has been doing EM since the late 70's, but he remains very secretive about this period. As much as about his identity! I respect that, it's the music that matters. And there is some very beautiful music. WAVES offers an unusual facet of Mr. G. Ambient music! Good and passionate ambient music with enveloping synth waves. Add to that atmospheric and cosmic elements, and we have the ideal ambiences to float with these tones inspired by the analog years of Klaus Schulze and Neuronium. Recorded around 83, the music has been entirely rearranged and re-recorded preserving this analog tint that always gives a little more nobility to Eric G's ME.
A windy hubbub where whispers and explosions are hidden, the music of Nightmare reflects the spirit of the title. An industrial humming invites its shivers to compose with prismatic effects, electric flashes, murmurs in the walls and ceilings and other frightened voices that fill these ambiences that should literally be the cradle of many nightmares. No difficulty to believe it! Ditto for Sorrowsong and those quick electronic birdsongs through a violent woosshh storm. An organ rises to make hear its nasal layers rise with a more seraphic vision. A choir of whispering monks can be heard briefly between these layers that overlapping their dominance over an obscure but surprisingly musical track. Despite its somber opening, Median Meditation scatters its piano notes in a squall of woosshh and wiisshh. A grotesque voice tries to pull the music back into the chasms of Nightmare, but the synth pads that stick to it add more of a lyrical depth to the music. Organic elements, a bit like shaman bells, embellish what has become a beautiful procession, sounding a bit like good old Pink Floyd, which fades out in the middle of the 4th minute. Mist and other electronic fantasies for psychedelic ambiences take care of the next 4 minutes before a superb Berlin School bursts out just after the 8th minute. The movement of the sequencer is ponderous. Relying on cymbals, it propels fabulous synth solos on a dismembered electronic cha-cha. And the next 5 minutes are happiness worth the price of the WAVES' download. Eric G turns into Chris Franke and Edgar Froese! Pure delight my friends, a sequencer that does not lack ideas and synth solos in mode aerial acrobatics. A huge track, even if the vocoder makes a short intervention. It's the only portion of rhythm in WAVES, since Oceans is an atmospheric title rich of these effects of nature and Cosmos. The synth layers are surfing on the gigantic waves that collide with conical reefs. The music is rich and played with passion, making of Oceans a most intense track. The Swedish musician superimposes his anaesthetizing layers by taking care to vary the tonalities, thus playing on the colors of the emotions. Electronic effects add a very Klaus Schulze touch to this titanic opening that tempers its ardor around the 12th minute by inviting the mellotron to make its flute sing in a poetic vision that tickles our spine. The tremolo of the fluty chant is there to thrill the senses, with the sparrows' chirps echoing on a thawing stream. Little by little, Oceans pours towards a more psychedelic phase. A brief moment before the music returns to caress our ears in a beautiful finale.
Even in an ambient envelope, the music of Eric G breathes the magic of the vintage years. We listen at a good volume to be completely submerged so much the passion of the Swedish synthesist carries our emotions as much as his music to another level. The only portion of rhythm is fantastic while the rest is like humming the ether of Neuronium and Klaus Schulze. One cannot hope for better!
Sylvain Lupari (September 9th, 2021) ****½*
Available at Eric G Bandcamp
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