Sonic Architechture --- The Architect --- 2015 (The Mystic)
The first time I, or any of us, heard this album it was on the back of a “listen-to-my-music-after-one-post” intro, and we all pretty much jumped on the guy for breaking the rules. In fairness to him, he relented and removed the link, though I haven't seen him around since, which would kind of back up perhaps the theory that he was only here to share and get feedback on his music. What we did all agree on, before it was deleted, was that his music was in fact phenomenal, and this led me to agree to review his album, which is something I normally only do after I've got to know the person in question. But this was/is so good I felt I had to make an exception.
“Flight” opens the album and it's a really impressive very Chopin-like run on the piano which immediately piques your interest: this is no ordinary Joe bashing at a keyboard or using a computer program to simulate or enhance the sounds. The tune begins to build then, on what I think may be minor chords though I can't say for sure, with a very dark, melancholy air, slow and with a certain sense of perhaps the Orient about them. He says in his notes to the YouTube this is from that he only uses two instruments, but he certainly makes it sound like more. There's a fantastic fast bassy downward run to end the piece and we're into a shorter one, “A meditation on dissonance”, which again begins with slow piano with some really nice bass and reminds me at times of the work of Tony Banks, then “Harmonic rhythms: hidden geometric patterns in a falling snowflake” has a gorgeous rippling organ sound, moving at quite a pace and with a sense of tiny tinkling bells, like glockenspiel or xylophone about it.
Sounds quite like the early work of Vangelis, SKY or Tomita, with a sort of a feeling of Yes in the later sections. For a four-minute piece it goes in rather more quickly than I had expected, and we're into “Loosing Ludwig”, which not surprisingly has a very Beethoven mood to the piano, slow, stately, grand, powerful. It's only two minutes long but so far something of a highlight on the album. Kind of returns to a degree to the piano gymnastics of the opener, and certainly continues to demonstrate how well this man can play that instrument. “Miles away” brings in a sort of jazzy sound to the mix, with a smooth bassline and shining piano. I'm no fan of jazz as you all know, so this doesn't do a lot for me, but he does play it well and if you like this genre you'll probably be able to appreciate it better than I can. He does integrate some clever guitar lines, presumably made on the Korg he uses.
“Sine pluvia temporum: rain without time” is another short piece, just over two minutes, utilising very synthy, spacey themes, again rather like Vangelis, more a case of sounds than music and I guess symbolising the falling of rain in an abstract way, in which he succeeds very well. The big epic is “The journey” which lasts for exactly ten minutes, and opens on another classical piano run, very dramatic, before settling down into a really nice etude which moves slowly along like a rolling river, little flourishes and runs possibly representing the rise and pull of the tides and currents. In the fourth minute the tune takes something of an upswing, as a jazzy break comes through and the tempo increases playfully, thick bass piano notes though interposing a sense of order and control over the melody. In the final three minutes then the big classical piano wave returns, slowing things down (as the river reaches its destination/ the end of its journey?) and it's a soft and sedate amost to the end, until a big run takes the final moments and brings this composition to a close.
Oddly, I would have though “Bach to the future” would have been based around the composer's classics, but it's more an electronica, Jean-Michel Jarre style bouncing number with chattering synths and buzzing keys, then “A memory” is a reflective, soft, ethereal piano piece while “El tango” does what you expect, and gives you tango rhythms against a salsa beat; it's okay, but not I feel as good as some of the compositions here. We're back to rolling, rippling piano for “The celestial chords of ethereal ascension”, another somewhat classical piece though he does imbue it with a lot of strength and majesty. Also uses, purposely or not I don't know, the descending piano intro from The Boomtown Rats' “I don't like Mondays”! Coming in very slowly and gradually then, “A sunrise” is built around a simple piano melody with what sounds like harp, very graceful and relaxing.
Much more uptempo and sharper is the bass run which opens “The soul rises: neo soul”, a thumping, shuddering piece which gives the impression more of flight, chase, pursuit than the title seems to indicate. If he had called this “On the run” or something similar I think it might have made more sense to me. However I hear the soul influences coming in, and maybe he's trying to depict the rise of motown or something like that. If so, I can see where he's coming from. The closer is another long one, almost eight minutes of “Samadhi”, rising on a nice smooth piano line which then picks up on a really nice combination of bass and drums, kind of a tribal rhythm going, with elements of jazz too.
TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS
Flight
A meditation on dissonance
Harmonic rhythms: hidden geometric patterns in a falling snowflake
Loosing Ludwig
Miles away
Sine pluvia temporum: rain without time
The journey
Bach to the future
A memory
El tango
The celestial chords of ethereal ascension
A sunrise
The soul rises: neo soul
Samadhi
There's no doubt this guy has real talent, and I hope he's stil around to read this review. His main focus is of course piano but given that he's using the Korg I'd love to hear some more instruments --- brass, guitar, maybe mandolin or harmonica. I'm not sure if he's even putting this up for sale or has any intentions of going pro, but if so, then I think he may have a very good chance of making it in the world of music.
Rating:
