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review by Bill Binkelman With an able assist from Steve Roach (who did the final arranging and mastering as well as adding "xpander atmospheres" to some tracks) Jeffrey Koepper's Etherea is a wonderful ambient/EM recording that delightfully blends warm analog/retro electronic music with state of the art ambient and spacemusic elements to create a 21st century hybrid that should offer strong appeal to fans of all the aforementioned genres. No doubt owing (at least partly) to Roach's involvement, the engineering and overall "sound" on this disc is impressive with a capital "I." The analog keyboards (be they the real thing or synthesized) glow with a warm naturalness and evoke pleasant nostalgia, as evidenced immediately on the opening track, "between dreams," which offers up assorted midtempo beats, floating keyboards, spacy synths (a la Jarre and others from that era), all gathered together in a celestial mixture of textures and rhythms. It's a truly outstanding way to start an album, and the entire disc holds one treasure after another. One of the things I came to admire most on this album was how imaginative Koepper was in balancing both the rhythmic tracks and the more free-form ambient ones, as well as the spacemusic side and the more EM-focused elements. At times, there is a strong European influence detected (not necessarily Berlin school, but sometimes English and French school, if there is such a thing). I certainly heard it on the opening track, as well as later on during the piece "timeless" which reminded me of David Wright in how Koepper blended melodic elements with more overt electronics. However, the artist also sometimes aims for the stars (i.e. spacemusic) such as on the cosmic-sounding "distant light," a fairly minimalist excursion into sustained minor key synth chords which slowly reverberate and sustain into an inky blackness. Stretched out over twelve-plus minutes, some artists would either let the music stagnate or purposelessly alter the motif for variety's sake. Koepper finds a middle ground and allows for minor deviations to keep listener interest up while maintaining continuity throughout the song. Other tracks worth special mention (the entire album is solid, though) include "ancient sunlight" (high-pitched retro synths undulate and pulse eventually morphing into a mildly propulsive Berlin-school number, with laser-zapping synths crisscrossing the soundfield), "passage" (which unfolds patiently and deliberately with musical elements reminiscent of John Carpenter's and Alan Howarth's soundtrack work, albeit in a non-foreboding vein), and the brooding "moments in time," (a rhythmic piece that bounces slow tempo bass synth beats against a wonderfully evocative lead keyboard line, evocative of cold and barren polar beauty). The CD concludes with the nearly fourteen-minute "while we sleep," as classic a combination of spacemusic and drifting EM/ambient as you will find these days. It's hard to believe Etherea wasn't received with more accolades and fanfare. It's astonishingly well-done, both from an artistic and an engineering standpoint. Even with all the assistance of Steve Roach, make no mistake about it - this is Koepper's music. I was hard pressed to recognize Roach's "touch," except for the meticulous mastering. Jeffrey Koepper has a bright future ahead of him, regardless if he walks the EM, the ambient, or the spacemusic path. They all lead the same place - outstanding music. Highly recommended! |
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