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review by Dene Bebbington 1st Encounter is the latest album from German musician Sayer (who has also recorded under the name Dream Quest), and his first on the Invisible-Shadows label. After creating dance-oriented music for several years, he decided to change direction and write an album influenced by classic EM, and this is the result. One thing that this album has in common with dance-oriented music is that it's very lively, and one might even say subtle as a brick in parts! The most obvious EM influences are probably Tangerine Dream for the heavy use of sequencing and some of the synth lines, and Jean Michel Jarre for the more melodic aspects. The first track, "Desert," gives a good idea of what the album is like, beginning with "slapping" metallic sounds that become rhythmic, some sequencing then comes in to be joined by a pleasant melody and synth pads that wouldn't sound out of place on a spacemusic album. Some of the subsequent tracks, such as "Liberation", start with soaring synth sounds but quickly give way to sequencing; that's a shame in my view because those glimpses are of what could be good spacemusic if the looping and rhythms were held off on some pieces. A highlight of the album is the track "Perhaps", this has the most satisfying melodies of the album in my opinion and has a nice syncopated sequence line; also, besides being upbeat it is surely giving a nod to Jarre's Oxygene in the slower spacey sections. In many respects, this is an old meets new album, the classic TD and Jarre influences are brought up to date with a modern rather than retro sound - the closest comparison I can think of is Foreign Spaces's Phaeton, though their music is less fast-paced and powerful than Sayer's. A whole album with heavy doses of sequencing doesn't really appeal to me, but I was impressed at how Sayer often manages to do it melodically and with joire de vive. As sequencing based albums go, 1st Encounter is better than average. |
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