“La Valle dell'Inferno is maybe what borders the most this music of the 70's which was a bit difficult to tame but which always found its way to seduce us”
1 Acropoli 9:07 2 Il Tempio della Sibilla 16:03 3 La Grande Cascata 13:09 4 La Grotta delle Sirene 7:46
(DDL 46:07) (V.F.)
(Cosmic Berlin School)
What!? There are still new musicians who revisit the Berlin School style of the former days? Yep! And on this one, I owe this discovery to my friend Piero (Alluste) who put me in touch with Andrea Lensflare Debbi, an Italian musician who counts already 5 albums inspired by Klaus Schulze and by Tangerine Dream with a suspicion of Baffo Banfi. Nothing less! Possible make something new out of something old? Even if the link of influence is easy to recognize, the music of Lensflare, to say the least on LA VALLE DELL'INFERNO, is a mixture of two eras with their very different aromas. Acropoli begins with breezes which undulate while whistling. Effects of reverberating drones and more shaded breezes invite each other in this very ambiospherical opening where tinkle some shyly arpeggios which have this shape of suspended carillons and which are watchers of winds. This kind of introduction full of electronic nebulosity decorates the 4 titles of this album. And here, it's the prelude to spasmodic sequences which skip with a profound harmonious intensity under the multiple caresses of these winds sculpted in the secrets of synthesizers. The effects are intense and keep the rhythmic embryo in a trajectory smothered by these effects and which make of Acropoli a monument of a bit dramatic ambiences where roams a specter of rhythm which aims to be more insistent at the end of its course. Il Tempio della Sibilla follows with an abyssal introduction. The envelope of an organ adds a chthonian dimension to this dark opening nevertheless flooded by the heat of synth solos as well psychedelic than acrobatic. A bass pulsation extricates itself after the 4 minutes from this sound magma. And these distraught kicks structure a rhythm without a real direction and which moderates its enthusiasm under an avalanche of anesthetic layers and of others of which the soft savors of the 70's empty their fragrances in a vintage and a contemporary confrontation. The rhythm inhales of its convulsions sometimes grouped and sometimes solitary in this ambient tumult with a creative synth at the level of its layers of sibylline mists very TD of the Phaedra years, of its harmonious but always acrobatic shapeless soloes and of its effects which free a fauna a bit psychedelic. Let's say that it isn't with Il Tempio della Sibilla that we get into the music of the Italian synthesist. Grande Cascata will help for sure!
After an introduction decorated of chloroformed layers, of chthonian voices effects, of electronic effects and of multiple hummings, a series of chords try to introduce something. These chords are taken back by an organ, whereas the rhythmic landscape gets out quietly of its hibernation. The duel between these abscond vibes and a rhythm knotted by jolts persists until the explosion of a nervous line of sequences. These sequences dance with organic shadows before running away with a fluidity which equals the good movements of the Dream in the Encore years. Very good with one finale which tries to return to its origins. Well balanced over its 8 minutes, La Grotta delle Sirene is the most beautiful title of LA VALLE DELL'INFERNO. The intro collapses under wonderful chants of the Mellotron. Effects but also the harmonies from the Mellotron and the synth which remind to us the best sound of Tangerine Dream in the 70's. Floating and dreamy, the introduction remains nevertheless more musical here than on the first 3 titles of the album. And when the rhythm emerges, it's by ample oscillations which espouse the moods drawn from this splendid very Froese synth. A little jewel my friends which glitters of this music of the 70's where it was necessary to tame the ambiences before savoring a music, in spite of its distances with what was made at that time, which always ended by surprising before seducing.
Sylvain Lupari (February 25th, 2018) ***¾**
SynthSequences.com Available on Lensflare's Bandcamp
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