|
Sonic Immersion (NL)
This release by the well-known trio Bas Broekhuis, Detled Keller and Mario
Schönwälder is a double live album, which sees the musicians play with
Raughi Ebert (electric and acoustic guitar) and Thomas Kagermann (violin)
during a concert on January 20th 2008 at the Dorfkirche Repelen. “Lanes
of the Lord” starts out with nice, quiet atmospheric music, choir
sounds, nicely fitting in the sacred environment. The lyrical violin on
the meandering soundungs of “Moers I” takes things to another level,
radiating a contemplative feel, while “Rock This!” ventures in more
up-tempo territory with prominent (to my taste a bit too loud) e-guitar. A
choir joins the band on the sensitive, melancholic “Source of Life”, a
highlight for sure on the first disc. On this piece, vibrant acoustic
guitar and violin are added to the symphonic synths later on. The light,
warm sounding “Moers Part II” continues in a smooth, easy-going
manner, the violin making it softly shine even more. “Shiauliai”
sounds improvised to my ears, rather dragging on between a static rhythym,
violin and harsh e-guitars parts, not forming a coherent whole. Things
turn up-tempo on the simple sounding closing 10-minute piece “Esrever
oloS”, on which a simple, repeated synth-trumpet tries to make things
attractive without effort, followed by soloing violin and synth. Sorry
guys, you can do much better than that. The second disc comprises five
tracks recorded at concerts at the same location in January 2006 and 2007,
plus a recording of a rehearsal of the complete band. “Return to the
beginning” ventures out with warm synth pads, gradually evolving into a
nice rhythmic outing with exotic flavours, offering a nice interplay of
flute, violin and acoustic guitar parts. It’s good example of the evoked
joy when musical ideas melt together properly. Engaging soundscapes with
vocal samples create a quiet, intimate but great atmosphere which changes
around the 10-minute mark with the introduction of nicely shifting
sequencer patterns. “Klaus, where are you?”, another highlight on this
disc, presents well balanced Berliner School sequencing and Grosskopf-like
powerful drums (think of Schulze’s “Live..”), including joyous
violin ands synth soloing. “Another Magic Moment” is another rhythmic
excursion with bass sequence, synths and poignant e-guitar and violin
licks. “Cut & Paste” is exactly what is says: an improvised messy
session with no red line. Fortunately, the nicely packed digi-pack, which
comes with a 16-page full color photo booklet, ends with a nice, quiet
piece for acoustic guitar and synth only: “Raughis Song”.
Bert Strolenberg, www.sonicimmersion.org,
2008
|
