Akikaze
- The Age Of Deception
(2008, SynGate
CD-R 2135)
Akikaze (Japanese for autumn wind) is the electronic exploration of Dutch
musician Pepijn Courant. This is his seventh album and, like all his
albums, a concept album.
The music of "The age of deception" tells us how negative
experiences like death of your loved ones, misfortune, deception and
disappointment can make you stronger and better in the end, to say in
short: anything that doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.
The music was recorded betweem 1994 and 2005. As previous albums,
"The age of deception" shows a great diversity, but this album
as a whole brings back acoustic percussion and as many analogue
synthesizers as possible. This time Akikaze experiments with analogue
electronic percussion and arpeggiators. Early Neuronium fans or other
romantics will again appreciate the interluding acoustic guitar sound
based pieces. A must have for listeners of diverse melodic and rhythmic
instrumental music.
Lothar Lubitz, SynGate, May 2008
'The Temptation of Saint Anthony' by Hieronymus Bosch
Sonic Immersion (NL)
The musician behind Akikaze is the Utrecht-based Dutch musician Pepijn
Courant, who studied classical music for over seven years. The concept
album "The Age of Deception", Pepijn' seventh by now, was
already finished in August 1995, but only saw the light of day as physical
release due to Lothar Lubitz' SynGate label.
The first few tracks on the album (which contains quite some nicely
rendered acoustic guitar sounds next to analogue percussion) didn't do
much for me, sounding rather flat and incoherent, but the moody title
track changed that. "Two
years of wasted love" is a nice (Garrison kindred) sequencer tune -
reminding me of his piece "The Master and the Apprentice" from
the sampler "Sea and Sky". "Catharsis" follows in the
sequencer footsteps but by far isn't as strong and captivating. "Farewell"
is a simple moody, melancholic tune echoing Simon and Garfunkel's "El
Condor Pasa". Although the 14-minute track "Critical Incidents"
contains several unusual and rocky elements, the sequenced parts with the
warm solo voice on top are nicely done. The driving (again
Garrison-similar) sequence with retro textures also makes the 9-minute
"Point of no Return" an enjoyable piece.
Overall, this accessible album with versatile melodic and rhythmic
structures holds something for everyone.
