|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
review by Bill Binkelman For this release, the Canadian trio Sylken pares down to a duo: Eric Hopper (guitar, synths, loops) and Steve Sauvé (synths, loops and treatments). The other member of the group, Wally Jericho, contributes trumpet on one track, but it's basically Hopper's and Sauvé's show - and what a show it is! Dreamlife is a mixture of classic drifting spacemusic and floating electronic ambient textures that carries the listener along on eleven musical voyages to starfields and wheat fields alike, mixing a cosmic sense of deep outer space with a more earthbound feeling of broad landscapes stretching out to distant horizons. The album begins in excellent fashion with the reverberating repeating bell tones, whooshing drones, and lush synth washes of "Night Wings" which, without the use of emphatic beats, still creates a mood of rapid flight. "First Light Falling" opens with dramatic lower register synth chords of the type used by Liquid Mind, but played in a different fashion (not sustained as long). A gentle foreground synth floats lazily among the more textural washes, and I was also reminded a bit of the pastoral ambience of Michael Allison (Darshan Ambient). A more soaring spacemusic quality overtakes the minimalism and imparts a sense of awe and reverence without being cloying or sentimental. "The Ocean of Dreams" has Jericho's muted trumpet playing a significant role, adding a subtle element of space-jazz to the chiming tones and swirling synths which comprise most of the song. Piano (digital, I imagine) also plays a part in creating the warm appeal of this song, which brings to mind how the ambient artist Jon Mark integrated flugelhorn on some tracks of his classic A Sunday in Autumn. One of the pluses of Dreamlife is the mixture of short (under five-minutes long) tracks with longer songs (such as the nine-minute "Adrift in a Sea of Light" which sounds about what an astute person would expect - airy, spacious warm layers of keyboards and textures, hovering and floating in random patterns). Another thing to be admired on this album is the overt presence of electronics (as opposed to sampling traditional instrumentation) yet without the use of too many cliché synth sounds. Scattered here and there in the mix are unique electronic touches, as well as the presence of overt guitar wizardry here and there (courtesy of Hopper), which infuses the music with a sense of daring and unexpectedness. Whether it's the reflective and melancholy drama of "Memories to Come" (one of the "louder" and more forceful tracks here) or the closing elegance of "Vistas" (which elicits visions of standing on a mountain top gazing out at a wondrous landscape below), Hopper and Sauvé showcase their artistry in crafting heartfelt electronic ambient/spacemusic that is never strident or over-bearing but is also not boring or uninvolving either. They even manage to cross-over into a unique fusion of ambient with Berlin school EM during the latter stages of "Sings the Heart" (which, to me, indicates that they should take a stab at an entire album of such stuff!). If you have a fondness for spacemusic from back when it was a hot genre, but don't want a CD that is merely a throwback or homage of sorts, Dreamlife is probably custom-tailored for you. With the exception of a few more "in your face" moments on the recording (such as on the guitar-dominated "Here and Now"), the essence of this release is pure and unadulterated cosmic drifting. While I miss more contributions from Jericho's trumpet, Dreamlife still delights me and I heartily recommend it to drifting ambient music fans everywhere. |
|