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Arp is the most recent project of Alexis Georgopoulos,
the founding member of rhythmic experimentalists ‘Tussle’
and improvising collective ‘The Alps’. Since his role
in ‘Tussle’, Alexis has left behind his bass and drums
to concentrate on experimenting with analog synthesisers, pulse
machines, flute, piano, pedals and an old 4-track cassette recorder.
If these sound like the ingredients to a ‘komische’
70’s progressive minimalist dirge then you’d be spot
on, because ‘In Light’ is an ode to the warm, reverberating
soundscapes of the ultra-creative Seventies period. In order to
create ‘natural sounding music’, nearly all of ‘In
Light’ was recorded live and only one loop was used in the
entire process.
The opener ‘St Tropez’ sets the scene
by creating a dense soundscape which drifts past slowly with a
tangible air of enchanted mysticism. On ‘Potentialities’,
micro-melodies and deep expanding synths ride a propulsive wave
of motorik synths to create a mind-expanding slice of minimalist
psychedelica which recall the strongest works of Cluster or Tangerine
Dream. The appropriately titled ‘The Rising Sun’ showcases
gently played and clustered keys over a throbbing and expanding
bed of haunted droneage. ‘Fireflies on the Water’
comes across as a bridge track and its overly bouncy synths however
the tightly clustered, bubbling analog synthesisers burst into
life with the Franco Battiato inspired ‘Premonition of the
Scupltor Steiner’ which sounds like the score to a psychedelic
space-explorers tale of adventure.
The real centrepiece of the album is the multi-dimensional
15 minute epic, ‘Odyssey (For Bas Jan Ader). Alexis shoots
strategically arranged slow-motion darts of synthesiser and hollowed
phaser effects to enthral the listener into a parallel universe
glistening with exoticism. As the track seeps into the listeners
subconscious, forebodingly dark tones from the Argento school
of sound move in to mark their territory and proceedings become
more unsettled before disappearing into the depths of a murky
sub-aquatic wasteland . Of course, captive listeners will already
be in a deep-trance before the track takes a turn for the ‘dark’
and this will serve to accentuate the affects that the incoming
elements have. On the final track, ‘Potentialities II’,
Alexis celebrates the success of the previous tracks through composing
the most full bodied piece on the album to create a sound akin
Terry Riley’s ‘Shri Camel’ played at 45rpm.
The decision to utilise analogue techniques has
created a syrupy and full bodied sound which successfully occupies
the territory of ‘psychedelic yet natural sounding electronica’.
As such, ‘In Light’ creates a sound which is not only
a homage to the most successful minimalist experimentalists of
the Seventies, but a sound which could have stood alongside the
classics. Along with artists such as Delia Gonzalez and Gavin
Russom, it is really pleasing to see modern artists resurrecting
the carcass of ‘komische minimalism’ and this reviewer
looks forward to this trend continuing.
‘In Light’ will be followed shortly
by a 12” single with remixes b Panda Bear and Cluster. Arp
has also undertaken a remix for Lindstom and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
(KS)
For
fans of: Philip Glass, Franco Battiato, Harmonia, Terry Riley,
Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom, Tangerine Dream, Cluster
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