“Nothing is easy in this album which is woven in complexity with static broths which end up blossoming moments of very intense music”
1 Exodus 13:34
2 Dolphin Dunce 12:14
3 The Song of the Quail (From Breakfast, Until About Teatime) 24:57
4 Economics of Honesty 5:24
5 The Voyer 18:38
(CD/DDL67:33) (V.F.)
(Electronic Prog-Rock)
There were rumors that it was over. Perge was no more! And then there were always indications that proved the opposite… until OUT, THE WAY WE CAME IN landed on the band's Bandcamp site in late March. Nothing is easy in this album which is literally woven in complexity with static broths which end up blossoming moments of very intense music. I am thinking of the finale of The Song of the Quail among others. Perge exploits its personality more here than in previous albums, except for the boiling Dolphin Dunce. There is big English electronic rock, like great sequencer bursts, where the visions Matthew Stringer and Graham Getty flirt a little more here with those of Chris Franke.
Exodus doesn't waste time! After icy winds and the sound effects of a giant igloo collapsing, the rhythm is born from a line of sequencer on which we insert another movement. Shorter, it adjusts this impression of a line of balls hopping in single file on a conveyor that is periodically disturbed. It gives a very Chris Franke rhythmic approach à la Klemania. And it turns! It rotates faster and faster with other seductive percussive effects imitating the tail of a rattlesnake that we spin above our heads. This rhythmic restlessness and its sonic textures of the Exit years bring the excitement of Exodus towards a sector of ambiences that the escalation of keyboard pads and riffs redirects to an upward movement where gravity seems nonexistent. From rhythmic to semi-ambient, Exodus seems to think about its future when percussions snatch it from its reflection in order to drag it into its third mutation where rhythmic essences confront each other before swinging us into a final that is still very Purple Waves by Chris Franke. This philosophy of skin changes, both in rhythms and ambiences, is at the origin of the complexity of OUT, THE WAY WE CAME IN. Dolphin Dunce is a version clearly superior to all those that we have heard to date. The rhythm structure is similar while the synth solos are simply great! Already 26 minutes passed, and they passed quickly!
The Song of the Quail (From Breakfast, Until About Teatime) adjusts its rather philharmonic opening until an aggressive door is slamming at the third minute. A small scent of Pink Floyd, Meddle period, joins the weakened chords of a keyboard with a tremolo in its tone. Subsequently, there is an outbreak of a phase of rowdy ambiences, it looks like metal that is being tortured, which has almost exhausted my patience before the sequencer releases a line that quickly jumps in the reverberations filaments wrapped in a dense and compact sound mass where a counterattack of a rhythm sculpted in complexity gets organized. Let's say that The Song of the Quail (From Breakfast, Until About Teatime) is not the kind of title one likes the first time we heard it, or the second time you try it. Economics of Honesty is a good cosmic rock anthem of the Exit genre, there are some perfumes lying around, in a vision specific to Perge. One wonders if it's Tangerine Dream while knowing that it's not the case. There is a guitar solo here which is simply stunning. The Voyer offers us an ambient panorama with synth layers which wave in an opening marked by a melancholic vision, sometimes even sibylline. Beautiful percussive effects, genre Hype Park in the album Le Parc, burst or put a phantom rhythmic pressure here and there, as well as muffled voices (what's your name) by a vision of paranoia. This introduction makes drifting its elements in an approach that blows in my mind; we are not far from Blade Runner, until we cross the border of 6 minutes. Where Perge is busy creating a structure of rhythm which undulates strongly in this futuristic decor. The sequencer weaves this structure which goes up and down, without creating dizziness, while keyboard chords resuscitate this ambience linked to Le Parc and other more acute chords stretch the threshold of intense pain, like a guitar in its soul of Blues. Always peaceful, The Voyer stores the superfluous of its decor to explode in a big rock that will always remain on the threshold of its rage.
OUT, THE WAY WE CAME IN is a solid album from Perge which succeeds the daring bet by grafting very good electronic rocks, like much more progressive ambient phases. And I'm thinking here of The Song of the Quail! Admittedly, there are still these Tangerine Dream fragrances, this is the reason of Perge, except that this time the England duo sticks its own DNA with a hint of creativity until then half tempted by Matthew Stringer and Graham Getty since Perge's debut. Daring and musical, I think it's the best of Perge!
Sylvain Lupari (April 11th, 2020) ****¾*
Available at Perge Bandcamp
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