“Dive In-Dive Out is the most complete album from Rene de Bakker to date”
1 Dive in Part I 17:25
2 Dive in Part II 13:53
3 Dive out Part I 16:39
4 Dive out Part II 9:13
5 Dive in - Dive out 10:13
(CD/DDL 67:24) (V.F.)
(Berlin School)
It's in an abundance of notes, chords, tinkling and waltzing elements that the interstellar odyssey of Dive in Part I begins. It looks like a big sonic puzzle that our ears unpack by scattering the pieces that already have a future mapped out in Rene de Bakker's head. A first sequence is formed with chords that go up and down. Up and down this invisible staircase where these prisms tinkle throughout our auditory field. Other elements, notably these lines that do tonal acrobatics by taking these unimaginable forms. Here! The percussions have been inserted for a few minutes that I notice the ambient rhythm taking shape in this maelstrom of tones and colors that change under tam-tams having already furnished the more contemporary universe of Klaus Schulze. And so Dive in part I takes shape. The percussions have more tone, and the bass line takes more place. At the same time, the orchestrations take over the space with slow cinematic movements that would fit perfectly with the Middle Eastern ambiences. They are the highlight of this first act of DIVE IN-DIVE OUT, an album that the Dutch musician has conceived after Epiphany from Beyond Berlin and whose strange coincidences cannot be kept silent. Especially in the first half hour. Available as a manufactured CD and/or download on Groove nl's website, DIVE IN-DIVE OUT is the most complete album of RdB to date. Dive in Part II doesn't waste any time! A hungry bass plays its chords after 100 seconds of orchestral haze. That's the signal to get a rhythm line out of the sequencer. She seems to zigzag to avoid the impacts of this bass. Does it remind you of The Dark Side of the Moog IX? You are not wrong! We are in the territories of Klaus Schulze of the 90's, I have Miditerranean Pads in mind. The rhythm passes between our ears. Nervous, the arpeggios court the sequences in a ballet for rattling while Dive in Part II enters in second gear. A speed distorted by this swarm of sound elements which mass in an industrial zone marked by a drum forged in steel and its blows which surprise as much as charm. Once passed this point, Dive in Part II judges that it is time to return to its ambient form.
It's by a wave lacking breath that Dive out Part I pops out from the loudspeakers. We are in a Cosmos tortured by different attacks of sounds, notably big humming buzzes, while all in the distance rises this rhythmic line less and less intimidated by these thundering invasions. It's Rene de Bakker's bet to seduce us with this rhythm line snaking from the peaks harangued by a vocoder and these noises that have become the sound panorama of Dive out Part I. And it works! This fascinating odyssey is an audacious mix of Klaus Schulze and Robert Schroeder in a Berlin School and the organic tone of the sequencer. The rhythm attacks our fingers that drum on our thighs, while the sound envelope mystifies us. The more we go on and the more the firmament fills with these variegated tones, these organic whispers and cackles, these jungle cries and also these synth solos always good to hear. The climax of Dive out Part I is reached around the 12th minute. The track descends the peaks of intensity to lose little by little its tonal richness on a structure living of its sequencer become anemic and of these synth blasts filled with melancholy. Yes, it was a damn good track! Dive out Part II goes back into this universe where sounds are the law. It sounds like KS in a short mix of Miditerranean Pads. Convincing, even in its wild state that can't do without those orchestrations, making the envelope and the incoherent rhythm of Dive out Part II another highlight in DIVE IN-DIVE OUT. The title track also originates from a sound attack. The Vangelis-like orchestrations and the carousel of arpeggios waltzing together take us into a constantly changing soundscape. Do I hear a baritone sax? The upward movement of the sequencer is trapped in this structure that also seeks that creative tonal vegetation of the previous track. It only half succeeds as Dive in - Dive out continues its journey without noticing that its time has elapsed around the 9th minute. DIVE IN-DIVE OUT! Another excellent CD from Rene de Bakker...
Sylvain Lupari (June 11th, 2021) ****½*
Available at Groove nl
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