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Writer's pictureSylvain Lupari

PERCEPTUAL DEFENCE: Wishstone (2005-2017)

Updated: Oct 8, 2019

“A purely ambient opus loaded of drones and noises of inner shuttle trapped in a Mars tempest that is more of an experiment than a musical built around elegiac landscapes”

1 Approaching the Red Planet 12:51 2 Wishstone 15:21 3 Magnetic Sounds 14:12 4 Mars Spirits 14:16 5 Mystery Voices from the Red Soil 4:54 6 First Encounter on the Red Planet 11:19 Syngate Luna pd05

(CD-r/DDL 72:57) (V.F.) (Dark cinematic ambient EM)

A gigantic tide of hissing breezes accustoms gradually our sense of hearing whereas a wave of some jerky black loops stigmatizes a listening stunned by this powerful surging that we could confuse with the fall of a huge Black Hawk in an enormous crater. But no! A shuttle approaches with noises the borders of Mars. This pattern of violent and static rhythm follows the curve of its oscillations until disappear in the nothingness of a shrill din which gives to Approaching the Red Planet a depth so credible. We really have this feeling to be in a shuttle which tries its landing. Noisy but effective, this first title of

WISHSTONE is at the size of what Perceptual Defence is used to offer to his public, be a music intensely visual. We close the eyes and we plunge, with earphones because the wife and neighbors are going to cringe, in this surprising constructed universe totally with analog equipment. From the dissonance born the tranquility, while a mass of hollow winds smothers the noises of Approaching the Red Planet, giving so the necessary space so that our ears get their breath back because the title-track cultivates the noise of the dusty winds the Pinnacle Island with so much ferocity. Initially written in 2005, in a first edition very limited by 99 numbered copies, WISHSTONE is get out of times and winds, graciousness of the German label SynGate. An intensely ambient work with a great deal of hallucinating effects for ears, this 12th opus of Perceptual Defence (Gabriele Quirici) was exactly in its seat on the Umbra label, the property of the absolute master of soundscapes for theatrical, cinematographic and/or cosmic, otherwise esoteric atmospheres which challenge constantly the limits of the imagination; Oophoi. Embroidered on the theme of the Planet Mars atmospheres and its rocks of Wishtone kinds, this 3rd opus on dedicated to Space from Gabriele Quirici got a facelift with a new mastering besides offering 2 bonus tracks which were composed at the same time. Useless to specify that's an album of purely ambiences, of space ambiences, which answers admirably the dimension of its titles. As in Magnetic Sounds which tests literally the capacity of our earphones to absorb the howling hummings and the effects of a cosmic ship which confronts an avalanche of meteorites. More lugubrious, with a magma of lavas where are congealed ashes of specters, and clearly quieter too, although the myriad of ambient noises always evokes a storm to come, Mars Spirits remains just as much dramatic with a very realistic approach which again corresponds to the vision of its title. The same goes for the brief Mystery Voices from the Red Soil which is the most accessible track here at the level of a more meditative approach. Whereas between stridencies and floating vibes, First Encounter on the Red Planet doesn't really need a description. The title means all!

WISHSTONE is more of an experiment, a musical adventure inside the capacities of the analog synths to create atmospheres and sound effects as far as the borders of the imagination. And beyond… Did I like? Let's say that I was more fascinated than I was subjugated. And it's my Lise who was very satisfied of this because she still doesn't understand at all my fascination in front of this concert of tumults which can easily be translated as a symphony for Mars' atmospheric noises. Thus, I liked? Not really and it isn't especially my cup of tea. But I got out from it with a kind of respect for this work. Imagined a space shuttle and its equipage in the heart of a storm and of whirlwinds of cosmic elements taken in the magnetic attraction of Mars, and it would doubtless give the music and the sound effects of WISHSTONE. For that, it's a great success! Sylvain Lupari (June 14th, 2017) ***½**

Available at SynGate Bandcamp

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