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(a) period. (71'33") offers ten tracks to fire the imagination. Deeply felt, with absolutely no threat of overheating, AES Dana delivers the listener to that rare real thing; a sweet spot balance of the sonic and the psychic. An uncanny talent for interiority, Vincent Villuis' cool music accommodates equally well a steady heart and a moving mind. Reaching for transcendence, these realizations expand or contract based on the imaginative capacities within each individual listener. Rising out of the engulfing sense of depth, here and there we encounter soft beats. These slow pulsing grooves add an occasional propulsive direction to the drifting nature of (a) period.. Further in, the sense of atmosphere is palpable, and keeps us searching. Smooth and untethered, piano notes ascend through reverb. Among the venting synth pads and sustaining harmonies clouds of chords escape into the air, dissipating into deepening, questioning drones. While roiling electronics and slow melodic rolls provide vague signposts of the distance we have traveled, it may be difficult for some to determine their whereabouts along this album's gradual arc. From a place of dispossession and alien thought, to self-sustaining, deliberately designed structures, (a) period. portrays the artists emphasis on the more ephemeral states. With its occasional swerves into the surreal this enticing music feels like a response to the future. By inviting us into its spacey colorful dream realm, the creeping dread of modern existence may be stilled - in this work's opposition to an impatient world.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 30 September 2021 |
