“Not too complicated to love with appealing and magnetizing tracks”
1 Transcendens 5:43 2 Perpetuum Sensum Part 1 11:09 3 Perpetuum Cosmicum 7:02 4 Motivum Secundum Locum Africa 6:00 5 Perpetuum Musica 6:34 6 Tempestas 6:50 7 Momentum 7:11 8 Perpetuum Sensum Part 2 12:00 SynGate Wave MP01
(DDL/CD-r 62:32) (V.F.) (Harmonious New Berlin School)
What one can do with a Cubase 5, a handful of VST and a lot of imagination! An album like PERPETUUM MUSICA MOMENTUM of which the freshness, the candor and the spontaneity brings us to territories where the melodies become intrusive earworms. Mypan, Michael Stehl's project, is the latest discovery of the German label SynGate which keeps bringing new artists very interesting since Kilian Schloemp-Uelhoff took the guides in autumn 2011. His latest discovery is a passion of the genre. A self-taught musician and composer from Grebenstein, Germany, who is guided by his intuition and imagination. Evolving at ease in minimalist music settings like Philip Glass or Mike Oldfield, Mypan and his Cubase 5, as well as his few clusters of VST, concocted an album which is literally an ear-worm's weaving machine.
And it's through an intense corridor of dark and very intrusive atmospheres that Transcendens begins its first mission; seduce a new public adept of the Berlin School and its sub-genres. A panoply of synth lines is juxtaposed into a cathédralesque mission to form a hymn played on the organ. The multiple layers and their impulses play on the intensity of the arrangements with implosions points which are created by the slow and oblong interlacing of the multi-lines, carving a strong envelope of drama and tragedy with an attractive musical vision. It's in the minimalist coat of arms of Philip Glass that Perpetuum Sensum Part 1 blooms between our ears. Piano chords, tampered with by a sequencer, swirl sharply in an introduction where a roaring bass line drowns the approach of the Halloween genre of the minimalist ritornello. It's the beginning of a carousel of harmonies with well-diversified tints that is organized with several series of chords, of slow orchestrations and of layers of voices which get grafted in turn, making of the taciturn ambiences of Perpetuum Sensum Part 1 a musical box of delight where our senses go through the whole range of emotions. A superb intrusive movement which will be more lively, more in mode electronic rock in Perpetuum Sensum Part 2.
Perpetuum Cosmicum is another nice track built on a rotating movement and chords with slightly nuanced shades, and in sounds and in rhythmic colors. Two lines of spheroidal rhythms, one of which is imbued of cosmic flavors, intertwine their magic while the synth weaves here dreamlike songs which float in harmony with the different gravitational effects of the rhythms. The voices of NASA add a very decorative touch to this sequenced antiphon that will stick you a couple of chills in the back. The more I listen and the more I hook onto it! Built on a suite of staccato orchestrations, Motivum Secundum Locum Africa is the most complex composition of Mypan on his first opus, since the second part plunges us into a tribal universe with very tight chords, it sounds like an Ichigenkin, which resonate on Tibetan chimes. The whole thing is based on an always minimalist approach. Perpetuum Musica is a title at the crossroads of Clara Mondshine, Memory Metropolis era, and Mike Oldfield, Platinum era, with a variegated opening of aggressive tones and where the structure of rhythm grows like this platinum disco Punkadiddle. Mike Oldfield's imprint goes all the way to Tempestas, a nice ballad where the foggy introduction is swept away by a progressing rhythm in a well-balanced din. Momentum gets more electronic with a seductive lullaby which shuns a bit the minimalist approaches of PERPETUUM MUSICA MOMENTUM. The synth is quite beautiful and sings a nursery rhyme on sequenced chords that roll like a nocturnal dance of these ballerina's statuettes whose grace and nobility are frozen in our childhood memories.
With its mix of New Berlin School of the IC/ Software years and its scents of Mike Oldfield, PERPETUUM MUSICA MOMENTUM is an album not too complicated to love with its appealing and magnetizing songs. This first album of Mypan suggests a great potential, because of the very harmonious vision of Michael Stehl and his desire to tread more adventurous territories without moving too far from the comfort zone of his melodies. There are little jewels of simplicity in this album that will seduce you from the first listen. The rest belongs to your imagination and its senses! Yes, the future looks promising for Mypan!
Sylvain Lupari (June 10th, 2018) ***¾**
Available at SynGate Bandcamp
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