Outstanding and Soothing Electronic Journey Into Space
James Finch | Bradford, PA | 04/24/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"56 minutes and 1 second of pure bliss. The music on this album takes one on a journey through a dreamworld, not unlike Numina (Jesse Sola) in places, and somewhat like Tangerine Dream's earlier days. The music is entirely done with synthesizers, software and sampling. The music is very original and sounds only similar to the artist's mentors, Jonn Serrie, Robert Rich, Steve Roach, Paul Ellis and Brian Eno. In many ways, from the composition to the production, Resonant Drift does exceed expectations in comparing to those artists. In other words, if you are fans of those artists, you will be pleasantly surprised at how well produced this material is.
The music ranges from sequencer driven themes to flowing dreamscapes, using various sound ideas like snippets of distant voices to twinkling glass like sounds. The tracks ebb and flow like oceans of sound, in places gradually changing pitch like a moan (a trademark sound of RD) and the drones are moving all the time, never static. String sounds swirl and the stereo field effects are very intriguing.
Most of the songs are not beat oriented, but track 3, Is This The Dream, track 7, Spiral Nowhere, do feature some good Tangerine Dream-like percussion. Also, some Numina like percussion is used in track 9, Yearning. There are few, if any, cliches in RD's selection of sounds. The sound design, as well as the engineering, is superb.
This is gentle, mind expanding music that will appeal to Ambient as well as traditional New Age fans, especially in the more uplifting melodic pieces, such as the final track, Sorrow and Love. 11 songs that are similar to one another in that they are exclusively electronic, but worlds apart in concept as they range from dark ambient to New Age "feelgood" type tone poems.
There is something for everyone here, as long as you are into progressive sounding electronic music. It's not Jarre in any way, but Klaus Schulze fans will enjoy this multi-faceted album. I found myself putting the album on a loop, playing it all day and not getting tired of it. It's music that is so varied in its design that you can listen to it several times and get something new out of it.
Some of the tracks, like the title track, Flow Mingled Down, are reminiscent of a lonely trek on a winding road in the middle of the night. You wonder what might be out there waiting. Same feeling for track 5, Within Still. In simple terms, there are some happy tunes and there are some spooky tunes here. A grand array of emotions and concepts. The slow pitch bends are apparent in just a few of the tracks, but it gives it that Resonant Drift flavor. In other words, the tones "drift" in pitch. Most notable of that effect is in Within Still.
The whole album explores the whole spectrum of ambient music and if you like the artists I mentioned, you will be pleased with this very creative masterpiece. Please give it a listen. It's an hour of great floating music you'll want to put on repeat!"
This is great
Aaron Irizarry | 04/24/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"What a great blend of ambient and electronica. I love listenting to this cd while I am working or painting. It is definately worth buying!!!"
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1