Tag: Vangelis (Page 3 of 6)

QUIETER THAN SPIDERS Interview

Back in 2014, a mysterious Chinese combo named QUIETER THAN SPIDERS caught the ears of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK.

Fast forward to 2019 and after a few delays, QUIETER THAN SPIDERS have finally released their debut album ‘Signs Of Life’ on Anna Logue Records, the independent label based in Germany.

Their understated but richly melodic and emotive Shanghai synthpop is largely played by the hands of the anonymous family group of Leon, Yi Fan and Yao.

‘Signs Of Life’ possesses a timeless quality which manages to be simultaneously both futuristic and classic, and in common with records such as DAVID BOWIE’s ‘Low’, JOY DIVISION’s ‘Closer’ or MOBY’s ‘Play’, ‘Signs Of Life’ begins in an upbeat fashion but then gets increasingly slower, stranger and sadder.

Yi Fan from QUIETER THAN SPIDERS kindly chatted to answer a few questions about one of the best electronic albums of 2019.

How did QUIETER THAN SPIDERS become a musical entity and what is your creative dynamic?

It was a very gradual process which only formally came to fruition once we started to record the album.

Leon has been writing and recording songs since his teenage years while Yao and I both grew up playing traditional Chinese instruments such as erhu (a two-stringed fiddle) and guzheng (a type of zither). Over the years, we took an interest in each other’s music and tried to encourage each other. Eventually, Leon started to teach us how he wrote and recorded music on his synthesiser and, step by step, we became more involved with it.

We started by designing electronic sounds and making field-recordings which we would then experiment with. By the time Leon wrote ‘No Illusion’ we had started to perform with him during the recordings and, from thereon, we were officially a group. It didn’t take long to decide what to call our project. QUIETER THAN SPIDERS was an affectionate school nickname for one of us and, as we are all quiet people, we thought it would be a perfect name to use.

What was the key track that got QUIETER THAN SPIDERS rolling? Was it ‘Shanghai Metro’? What inspired it?

‘No Illusion’ was the first song that Yao and I were involved with, even though we still hadn’t quite officially formed QUIETER THAN SPIDERS at the point when Leon wrote it. Stefan Bornhorst aka THE SILICON SCIENTIST heard the song and recommended us to Marc Schaffer at Anna Logue Records who offered us the chance to record an album. It was such a special and unexpected thing to happen, particularly because Stefan’s own wonderful music had actually been such an important inspiration.

Another defining moment was when ‘Shanghai Metro’ was included on a compilation CD. That really was a lovely moment for us, not least because it was the first time any of our songs had been officially released. We wrote ‘Shanghai Metro’ with the simple idea of celebrating the city and its modern development. We first had the idea after a day out together at the Oriental Pearl Tower which is a radio tower that overlooks the city. The next morning, we went out again to travel around on the metro system and record some announcements. We knew someone who owned a Speak & Spell machine, so we borrowed it to spell out ‘Shanghai’ for the chorus.

QUIETER THAN SPIDERS have described themselves as “using home-made electronic sounds played by hand”, how much of that manifesto have you been able to maintain in the final realisation of ‘Signs Of Life’?

Our recording style stems from when Leon first started to create music in his youth. His first keyboard was an old second-hand Roland W-30 and most of the buttons and functions were broken. He therefore learnt to create songs without being able to use or learn any of the basic technical features.

His songs were simply layers of live recordings played entirely by hand. Even the metronome didn’t work, so he first had to play a freehand drum track to serve as the basis for the rest of the song. Later on, Yao and I also inherited the same recording method. When affordable software came along, it offered us the opportunity to record songs ‘properly’ for the very first time.

Some aspects, such as being able to programme the drums, were a welcome relief but, for the most part, we didn’t want to let go of the old recording style. The challenges and limitations had actually become part of the creative process and it gave us the intimacy of being ‘physically present’ at every little moment of a song.

When it comes to designing our own sounds; this is something we enjoy just as much as making the music. We distort basic electronic sounds and manipulate sounds from our field recordings as a way of recreating imagined atmospheres.

Of course, we occasionally used some standard sounds and other samples too on the album but, for the most part, we preferred to rely our own palette of sounds.

What are your tools as far as producing the music is concerned, are you vintage synth or software users?

We didn’t have the budget or space to acquire vintage synths and recording equipment, so we just embraced a modest set-up. We use software, mainly for the track recorder and the effect modules which enable reverbs and sound manipulations etc. We also use the software to programme basic percussion; we then add additional percussion sounds by hand as we record. For performing, we use midi keyboards and a microphone – that’s about it. With such limitations, it can sometimes be frustrating and we had to use a lot of trial and error to make things sound the way we wanted.

‘Arcade Eighty – Five’ opens and has a bouncy chiptune backbone, but that is almost a red herring for the album as it steadily slows and becomes more understated. What inspired this unusual concept as most albums are either primarily fast or primarily slow, or at least mix the tempos up within the tracklist?

Initially, we did think about mixing the tempos but, in the end, we decided that we preferred the songs to be surrounded by an appropriate context. We also wanted the album to build, or perhaps subside, towards a certain feeling. Although there are some exceptions, the songs are roughly in the order that we recorded them so, in that sense, there is a vague personal narrative which takes the album in a particular direction.

‘The Land Of Lost Content’ was inspired by a AE Housman poem, but it works on so many levels as a track…

Housman’s poem manages to express so much about the nature of memories and the passing of time. He laments the ability to remember a state of being that he can never return to. These are the types of themes which interest us because they seem to say something of life’s deeper meanings and mysteries.

When we adapted the poem into a song, we also wanted to include a notion of uncertainty about dreams and memory. The development of Shanghai has been spectacular over the past decades and many familiar old streets and buildings have now disappeared. When you can no longer revisit and verify particular things that you remember, you’re sometimes left wondering if it was just a dream.

‘The Land of Lost Content’ was actually the most difficult song on the album to record and mix. We seriously considered giving up on it at one point. Aside from mastering the album, Stefan Bornhorst also kindly mixed this track for us and performed some additional synths. It is entirely thanks to him that the song survived and made it onto the album.

The interlude side of your music provides an important aspect of ‘Signs Of Life’ which has coincidentally fallen into that ‘Stranger Things’ soundtrack realm, is it a TV show that you have seen and followed? 

With many of our songs, we try to convey certain images and moods that we imagine. I suppose we approach things a bit like a soundtrack because we are trying to capture a particular atmosphere. This was certainly the case with the interludes and also the later songs on the album.

Are QUIETER THAN SPIDERS influenced much by TV or cinema??

Soundtracks certainly do inspire us, whether it’s just the pure use of sounds or beautiful pieces of music from people such Angelo Badalamenti, Johann Johansson and Max Richter etc. We hadn’t seen ‘Stranger Things’, but we recently had the opportunity to watch all three series in one go. We really enjoyed it and, needless to say, we absolutely loved the wonderful synth soundtrack by Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon!

On ‘Brave New World’ and ‘The Statues’, Vangelis is looming…

For all of us, our first real experience of electronic music was mostly through artists such as Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre. For Leon especially, these were the kinds of artists which made him first dream of having a synthesiser. As a child, he had a compilation album of instrumental synthesiser music and, looking back, those songs must have formed his first ideas of what electronic music should sound like and what components it should have.

‘Hibakusha’ is a haunting song about the aftermath of Hiroshima, had this been a difficult song to write?

Whenever we have an idea for a song theme, it usually takes several attempts to find the right song melody and structure. However, with ‘Hibakusha’, it all seemed to develop and fit together quite naturally. In terms of the lyrics, Leon wanted to link them to small details which appeared in the hibakusha’s testimonies. He also wanted the words to form a double narrative so that they could be from both the perspective of a hibakusha but also from the perspective of someone reading the testimonies and fearing them to be a premonition. We have no desire to ever include any politics in our songs; we just like to focus in on human feelings and the thoughts they inspire, that’s all.

Musically, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK can hear SOLVENT and the solo work of Michael Rother from NEU! in ‘Hibakusha’. Had they been reference points in the final arrangement?

It is a real honour to be compared with either of them but I must admit that we didn’t consciously have any particular reference points for ‘Hibakusha’. We generally approach our songs in a very abstract and intuitive way but I think it’s inevitable that many music influences from across the years will weave themselves into the fabric of anything we do.

What inspired you to produce a piece of music about the tragic cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov? There’s one hell of a backstory behind Soyuz 1 with him and Yuri Gagarin, both literally prepared to die for the other, knowing that this mission was likely to fail?

As with ‘Hibakusha’, we were moved by the human story behind it all together with the haunting backdrop of primitive space experimentation.

I can’t actually remember how I came to be reading about Komarov in the first place but, when I shared the story with Leon and Yao, they were equally captivated by it. We actually recorded ‘Komarov’ during the same autumn that we recorded ‘Hibakusha’.

There is a lot of sadness in the album, but is ‘The Signs Of Life’ song referring to something much more personal?

‘The Signs of Life’ was written as a personal memorial for a special person we knew. It was also a way for us to process our feelings in relation to the nature of loss. There are so many little signs of life which go unnoticed because they seem mundane or unimportant. When they suddenly disappear, they take on a heart-breaking significance.

While writing the song, Leon went for an evening walk and saw a rusty old vintage car hidden away in the long grass near the edge of a forest. It made him think about things disappearing from everyday life but still secretly existing somewhere else. Although songs such as ‘The Signs of Life’ and ‘The Statues’ are melancholy, they also convey a deep sense of hope; a feeling that all is not lost somehow.

What have been your own highlights on ‘Signs Of Life’?

We are really pleased with the whole album but, if we have to choose, I think that ‘Hibakusha’ and ‘Komarov’ are the songs that we are most pleased with. We felt very deeply immersed in the feelings and imagery of the subjects when we recorded those and it felt a bit like re-entering a vivid dream each time that we returned to work on them. The same was also true for ‘The Signs of Life’ and ‘The Statues’ which had the added dimension of having a personal connection. They will always be very precious songs for us because they captured the way things felt at a specific moment of time.

It’s been a long time coming, but ‘Signs Of Life’ has been worth the wait, how do you look back on the journey?

Yes, quite a long time has passed since we originally recorded the songs. When we listen to the album now, it lets us retrace our footsteps but in the comfortable knowledge that we arrived safely in the end despite the setbacks.

The main feeling we have when looking back is ‘gratitude’ simply because, without the kindness of people such as Stefan Bornhorst and Marc Schaffer, we would probably never have made this album. Along with Steve Lippert who designed the artwork, they all put so much love and effort into the project to ensure that it reached the light of day. We are now inspired to write more songs to keep the journey going; but let’s wait and see!


ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to QUIETER THAN SPIDERS

Special thanks to Marc Schaffer at Anna Logue Records

‘Signs Of Life’ is released by Anna Logue Records in 2CD and double vinyl LP formats featuring a bonus album of 10 remixes by artists including Kevin Komoda from RATIONAL YOUTH, VILE ELECTRODES and THE SILICON SCIENTIST – please email orders@annaloguerecords.com

Information on prices and postage at https://annaloguerecords.blogspot.com/p/shop-mail-order.html

Also available from https://annaloguerecords.bandcamp.com/album/signs-of-life-2cd-version-master

https://www.facebook.com/QTSpiders/

https://www.facebook.com/annaloguerecords/


Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
20th November 2019

RICARDO AUTOBAHN Check The Gyroscopes

Ricardo Autobahn is a something of a music industry veteran and a known purveyor of pranklectro through his various adventures with THE CUBAN BOYS, SPRAY and POUND SHOP BOYS.

And all this without mentioning a 2006 Eurovision entry with rapper Daz Sampson, plus recordings with CBBC puppet star Hacker T Dog and the late country legend Glen Campbell with a cowpunk-techno reworking of ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’.

So when ‘Check The Gyroscopes’ arrived in ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s inbox, it caused some headscratching…

What, a serious instrumental electronic album with intricate complex layers that was thematically a reaction against the current fashion for Synthwave? “I had been writing a lot of library music, production music and TV music and occasionally found myself doing stuff that was too or meandering for that format” said Autobahn on how ‘Check The Gyroscopes’ developed as a follow-up to 2012’s ‘Rasterscan’ and 2016’s ‘Panophobia’.

‘Cocktails On The Dream Train To Hyperspace’ is a delightful uptempo opening, taking a leaf out of JEAN-MICHEL JARRE and his ‘Arpégiateur’ but with a harder beat. ‘The Tranquility Of Gravity’ extends on that vibe but with a spacier outlook, thanks to its swimmy string machines which sit within a grand widescreen setting haunted by its wintery Berlin origins.

A pulsing lattice shapes the sub-eight minute ‘Jetsphere Luxury Lounge’ into a more progressive proposition before the more chillingly ambient ‘Icedrop On The Camera Lens’. Meanwhile ‘Rocketronic Mooncar’ is a beautifully melodic metronomic piece that is both lean and to the point.

‘Atomic Romance’ swirls and sparkles in a manner that trumpets with a folky resonance like MIKE OLDFIELD. And as Autobahn prepares for launch on the lengthy ‘Destination Astroworld’, guitar makes its presence felt although it’s the Kontakt software variant with “acoustic strum” and virtual Strats among the palettes used; the track is a fine demonstration of modern production techniques if nothing else as a computerised Steve Howe pops out… but like many YES tracks, it does go on a bit unfortunately.

Things get back on track with the frantic but rousing ‘Too New To Be True’ which enters VANGELIS territory with its sweeping texturing, despite its pace and octave interplay. Although possessing a rather long title, ‘Emporium For Art Deco Adventurers’ is as minimal and sparse as the album can get with more synthetic guitar stylings, leading into the closing tune ‘The Comet Collector’ which re-enters Planet Jarre but additionally throws in digital strums and bright Synth Britannia themes.

‘Check The Gyroscopes’ is an immediately likeable record and some may even prefer it to JEAN-MICHEL JARRE’s more recent offerings. And as a reaction to Synthwave, it certainly hammers home the point and remembers to include some variation and tunes.


‘Check The Gyroscopes’ is released as a digital album by Banoffeesound via the usual platforms and direct from https://spray.bandcamp.com/album/check-the-gyroscopes

https://www.facebook.com/ricardoautobahn

https://twitter.com/ricardoautobahn

https://www.instagram.com/ricardo_autobahn/


Text by Chi Ming Lai
30th October 2019

QUIETER THAN SPIDERS Signs Of Life

After first breaking cover in 2013, Shanghai synthpop trio QUIETER THAN SPIDERS mysteriously disappeared despite having previewed numerous tracks on YouTube and Soundcloud.

But in 2018 there were ‘Signs Of Life’ as QUIETER THAN SPIDERS officially released their first track ‘Shanghai Metro’ on a compilation via Amour Records. And now, the anonymous family group of Leon, Yi Fan and Yao finally release their long awaited debut album on Anna Logue Records, promising “Electric sound-waves that pulse through our sleep… and our dreams”,

It is a body of work that has a timeless quality which manages to be simultaneously futuristic and classic, just like the electronic pop of yore. ‘Signs Of Life’ begins with the bubbling chiptune inspired ‘Arcade Eighty – Five’; both rigidly rhythmic and richly melodic, it is exactly what KRAFTWERK would be sounding like today if they could be bothered to make new records. With a harsher robotic tone, ‘No Illusion’ keeps up the standard with its sharp hooks and recalls the endearing homemade indie electro of WHITETOWN.

As well as ten actual compositions, ‘Signs of Life’ also features eight conceptual interludes, the first of which being the self-explanatory ‘Disorientation’ which in 2019 falls into that ‘Stranger Things’ territory. Also accidently falling into current music trends, ‘Night Drive’ would probably be considered Synthwave although the chipmunk voice samples and sectional structure keep it firmly within the classic synthpop template.

The very short ‘2139’ looks ahead courtesy of Jean-Michel Jarre derived arpeggios and string machines to act as a intro to the simply wonderful ‘The Land Of The Lost Content’. Inspired by an AE Housman poem, it glides with a glacial beauty that not only is appealing to the ear, but can be danced to as well.

The soothing piano on ‘Distant’ provides respite from all the beats before ‘Shanghai Metro’, a whirring tune that would be exactly what OMD would sound like if they formed in the 21st Century.

But while the strong melodic elements recall Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey’s more recent work, particularly 2013’s ‘English Electric’, there is a fresh dynamic slant with the train station announcements and robot voices acting as catchy hooks.

The music box sequence of ‘Chang’e’ has a European arthouse air about it, which is appropriate as the following ‘Fessenden Grove’ is a solemn piano piece that incorporates ‘Scenes From Childhood’ by German composer Robert Schumann. But its eerie voice samples stating “this young man’s dead” prepare the listener for the loss and despair expressed in ‘Hibakusha’.

A beautifully haunting song about the aftermath of Hiroshima, it is a thoughtful merging of SOLVENT and Michael Rother which as far as subject matter and melody goes, is up there with ‘Enola Gay’. Fittingly in that unsettling ‘Stranger Things’ vein, the horror of ‘Silent Centre’ comes afterwards.

That fatalistic air continues with ‘Komarov’, an instrumental eulogy to the cosmonaut of Soyuz 1 who was the first man to die on a space mission; capturing the tragedy in music, it is a hairs on the back of the neck moment, swathed in chilling but melodic sadness; OMD would be rather proud if this was one of their own…

And as the album becomes much more downbeat, ‘Brave New World’ does as title suggests, dressed in dense Vangelis sweeps. More personal and introverted, ‘The Signs Of Life’ stares mortality in the face and reflects on the difficult emotions that come when the end is nearer than the beginning, “when the light begins to fade”.

The longest track on the record, the slow expansive drama of ‘The Statues’ could not be more different from ‘Shanghai Metro’, the mournful choir boy melancholy standing alone in the cinematic synthesized atmosphere. The funereal instrumental ‘Zara In The Stars’ closes ‘Signs Of Life’ with a glorious heavenly ambience perhaps not heard since MOBY closed ‘Hotel’ with ‘Homeward Angel’.

In common with records such as ‘Low’, ‘Closer’ or ‘Play’, ‘Signs Of Life’ begins in an upbeat fashion but then gets increasingly slower, stranger and sadder. And with its conceptual interludes and emotive avant pop in various tempos, it is a direct descendent musically of OMD’s ‘Dazzle Ships’ and ‘English Electric’.

A document of melancholy and uncertainty through its difficult gestation over the last six years, ‘Signs Of Life’ is one of the best electronic pop albums of 2019. Its understated artistic perseverance has been well worth the wait.


‘Signs Of Life’ is released by Anna Logue Records on 4th October 2019 in double CD, double vinyl LP and download formats featuring a bonus album of 10 remixes by artists including Kevin Komoda from RATIONAL YOUTH, VILE ELECTRODES and THE SILICON SCIENTIST – to pre-order, please email orders@annaloguerecords.com

Information on prices and postage at https://annaloguerecords.blogspot.com/p/shop-mail-order.html

Audio previews at https://annaloguerecords.bandcamp.com/album/signs-of-life-preview-snippets

https://www.facebook.com/QTSpiders/

https://www.facebook.com/annaloguerecords/


Text by Chi Ming Lai
12th August 2019, updated 2nd September 2019

KITE Live at Stockholm Slaktkyrkan

KITE, “Sweden’s best kept pop-secret”, made their long awaited return to the live stage with a trio of sold-out shows at the Stockholm Slaktkyrkan.

Having produced some of the best electronic pop in the last decade, the enigmatic duo of Nicklas Stenemo and Christian Berg were on the crest of wider international success in 2017 with a new EP ‘VII’ in the can. But KITE had to cancel their German tour following concerns over Stenemo’s health later that Autumn.

The period of music afterwards was empty without KITE, so when Stenemo and Berg announced their return a year later with a one-off date at the Slaktkyrkan, excitement was in the air. Ticket demand led to the Slaktkyrkan date becoming a weekend residency as well as the announcement of more gigs in Sweden.

As Brian Eno and his lengthy landmark in electronic ambience ‘Discreet Music’ set the mood for the start, the unmanned stage looked impressive with ten synths of various vintages including a Roland JX8P, Korg Micro Preset, Dave Smith Prophet 08, Roland RS101, Dave Smith Pro-2, Korg Sigma and Studio Electronics SE1 plus tubes of fluorescent orange lighting set in rows of six around the stage and large Paiste cymbals fixed vertically to act as reflectors.

As ‘Discreet Music’ faded out after 15 minutes amongst increasing plumes of smoke, KITE took their positions with Berg in a black poncho capeing him like a Norse Rick Wakeman by his six keyboards.

Meanwhile Stenemo stood tall and stoic with his slightly more modest four keyboards,  like a victorious tribal leader returning from the wilderness after another hard won battle, this time against the trials and tribulations of the human condition. With that in mind, the rousing ‘I Just Wanna Feel’ was a perfect way to open proceedings and affirm their comeback.

With its splitting Alan Wilder-esque bassline, I Can’t Stand’ resonated off the orange tube light set now at full brightness, recalling those radiant electric bar heaters of old and giving off almost as much energy as the music.

Taking in a deeper textural mood, ‘Count The Days’ offered some emotive respite; the song has by Stenemo’s own confession, prophetically documented an autobiographical warning to his recent burnout, with words that “I’ve become my own worst enemy in a world on fire I’m safe at home, live in denial but the pressures on and I justify it with the sleepless nights” being particularly poignant.

The gloriously majestic ‘Up For Life’ from 2015 has also taken on greater resonance with Stenemo’s rugged emotive cry admitting “Life to me you see don’t come so easily, but I’m up for tears, up for life, I’m up for heartache”. But despite the melancholy, there was optimism, especially alongside Berg’s expansive synth interplay which turned into VANGELIS after an extended ambient interlude reminiscent of MIRRORS’ ‘Secrets’, both ambitious  works clocking in at over 9 minutes.

Fittingly ‘Demons & Shame’, KITE’s darkest and most epic offering yet followed. Confronting the despair that his life threw up while pursuing his dreams, Stenemo’s harrowingly powerful delivery had the audience enthralled. Surrounded by ritualistic drum mantras and Berg’s eerie bass drones, if Ennio Morricone had composed music for Nordic Noir dramas, it would have sounded like this.

For many KITE fans, ‘The Rhythm’ from 2013 is still considered one of their best songs with its trancey backbone and chanty gothic rock edge coming over like JEAN-MICHEL JARRE meeting IAMX at Berghain. Bursting with catchy crossover potential, it probably drew the biggest physical reaction of the evening from the crowd, with Stenemo making the odd leg kick in support.

The whirring pulsing atmospheres of ‘True Colours’ allowed for a breather, albeit one with a nightfall intensity before the dial was set back again to dance mode.

Effectively their first single, the throbbing synthpop of ‘Ways To Dance’ was a reminder of how far the duo have evolved since their beginnings in 2008, before the bouncy whistling poptronica of the 2010 fan favourite ‘Jonny Boy’ played around with some Scandinavian folk traditions.

‘Dance Again’ was a wonderful spiralling hands in the air moment before KITE closed the evening in magnificent dramatic style with ‘Nocturne’; a mysteriously captivating ballad, it progressively rotated itself into a spacey widescreen continuum, thanks to Stenemo’s electronically treated vocals and Berg’s mighty percussive soundscapes.

One of the things about KITE and their releases to date is that being confined to EPs only, they don’t outstay their welcome and present the highest quality material possible. And that was the case with their impressive live show, with Stenemo and Berg departing the stage after an hour to the roars of a rapturous audience wanting more but appreciative of what they saw.

KITE are probably the best modern electronic pop act in Europe at the moment, possibly the world. With this confident return to the public arena after a short hiatus, their secret garden should be not so secret anymore…


KITE’s entire back catalogue is available digitally direct from https://kitehq.bandcamp.com/

KITE 2019 live dates include:

Arbis Norköpping (17th May), Huskvarna Park Sounds (18th May), Gothenburg Pustervik (19th May)

https://www.facebook.com/KiteHQ

https://www.instagram.com/kitehq/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0nhhoDCycjsJVHS8sk4vzW

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1230554-Kite-6


Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Simon Helm, Chi Ming Lai and Madeleine Berg
7th April 2019

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE Equinoxe Infinity

When JEAN-MICHEL JARRE’s ‘Equinoxe’ was released on 16th November 1978 as the follow-up to the massive selling ‘Oxygène’, there was no hit single but the album cemented the French Maestro’s position as one of the world’s leading electronic music pioneers.

To celebrate 40 years since the original release, ‘Equinoxe Infinity’ has been issued as the conceptual sequel to its parent album. Themed around ‘The Watchers’ from the iconic artwork of ‘Equinoxe’, Jarre himself has described the album as “Equinoxe on steroids”.

With too much expectation, when the 40th Anniversary release ‘Oxygène 3’ appeared at the end of 2016, it was the weakest of the trilogy, sounding slightly underwhelming and even unfinished. But with ‘Equinoxe Infinity’, the longer gestation period has allowed Jarre to be more focussed, highly appropriate with the binocular presence of ‘The Watchers’.

Musically representing the struggle between human and artificial intelligence, the septuagenarian synthesist said of the dual visual presentations for ‘Equinoxe Infinity’: “One cover shows mankind at peace with nature and technology, and the other depicts a picture of fear and distortion with machines taking over the world.”

He added: With these two, I want to bring attention to two scenarios we are facing today with our love for and our dependence on innovation and technology. The music of Equinoxe Infinity is the soundtrack to those two different worlds.”

Comprising of ten individually titled movements, with the dramatic filmic beginning reminiscent of ‘Rendez-Vous’, ‘The Watchers (Movement 1)’ shapes a brooding mood with an ivory shaped motif before leading into the glorious arpeggiator driven ‘Flying Totems (Movement 2)’, its sweeps and textures rich with melody and recalling Vangelis.

Putting the Minipops and Eminent into action, ‘Robots Don’t Cry (Movement 3)’ is vintage flavoured JEAN-MICHEL JARRE as most people love and remember him, the hypnotic 6/8 swing offset by a wonderfully grainy Mellotron ensemble although this piece with its white noise waves has more in common with the template of ‘Oxygène’ than ‘Equinoxe’.

With ‘All That You Leave Behind (Movement 4)’, some younger listeners would probably call it Synthwave, but as 70-somethings Jarre, Moroder and Vangelis were inadvertently godfathers of the currently fashionable sub-genre, this would be highly inappropriate. There’s actually the haunting deserted air of Ennio Morricone’s ‘Man With The Harmonica’ from ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’ here, before it enters an underwater world reminiscent of ‘Waiting For Cousteau’ to drift into a bubbly cascade of manipulated voices on ‘If The Wind Could Speak (Movement 5)’.

Into ‘Infinity (Movement 6)’ and beyond, a brighter tone is adopted with chipmunk voice samples à la ‘Zoolook’ and a Europop-styled rhythmic mood like ACE OF BASS with traces of melody derived from the bridge of ‘Equinoxe V’. But the overall result is disappointing despite Jarre’s vision of “trying to survive in a hectic VR game with no real beginning and no real end, trapped in a world of “infinity“’.

Continuing the virtual reality theme and touching on artificial intelligence, ‘Machines Are Learning (Movement 7)’ sees stark arpeggios, glissando synth stylings and staccato voice samples rubbing shoulders as an intro to the pensive mood of ‘The Opening (Movement 8)’; a revamp of the track premiered at Coachella Festival 2018 and featuring on ‘Planet Jarre’, it is mechanically rhythmic and melodic despite the melancholy.

‘Don’t Look Back (Movement 9)’ drifts and bleeps away in a spacey pizzicato with a lineage from ‘Oxygène’ while the closing ‘Equinoxe Infinity (Movement 10)’ is a wash of ambience and dub wobbles before a sequence descends into an eerie synthetic cacophony; inspired by the late Professor Stephen Hawking’s assertion that for the human race to survive, it would need to depart Planet Earth and certainly with the effects of climate change first hinted at by Jarre with ‘Oxygène’, that could now be sooner rather than later…

As with most of Jarre’s synthonies, this album needs to be listened to as a whole, although the first third is the most satisfying. Considering some of the instrumentation aesthetics used on ‘Equinoxe Infinity’, parts might have contributed to make a better ‘Oxygène 3’ if they had been included, although this album is like an amalgam of Jarre’s various analogue and digital styles of the years.

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE said a few years ago “Electronic music has a family, a legacy and a future…” and he can claim one of the biggest mainstream legacies. ‘Equinoxe Infinity’ has its moments, but should not be seen as a completely direct descendent of ‘Equinoxe’ in the way 1997’s ‘Oxygène 7-13’ was to Oxygène.

‘Equinoxe Infinity’ uses the following hardware and software: Yamaha CS80, EMS VCS3, ARP2600, Eminent 310, EMS Synthi AKS, Keio Minipops, Mellotron D4000, Roland Paraphonic RS-505, Korg PA600, Korg Polyphonic Ensemble, Korg MS20, Tasty Chips GR1, Erica Synths Modular System, Teenage Engineering OP1, Roland System 500 modules 1 + 8, Nord Lead 2, Nord Modular, Electro-Harmonix Small Stone, Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, Moog Sub37, Moog Taurus 1, Animoog, Omnisphere, Native Instruments Kontakt, Native Instruments Reaktor, Synapse Audio Dune 2, Spitfire, Replica ST, Boom, Valhalla, u-he Satin, DigiSequencer


‘Equinoxe Infinity’ is released by Columbia / Sony Music on CD, vinyl LP and download formats

There is also a vinyl LP + CD box set entitled ‘Equinoxe Project’ which also includes the original ‘Equinoxe’ album, ‘Equinoxe Infinity’, four posters and download card

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
18th November 2018

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