STRANDS

Having heard the Steve Hauschildt releases shown in these Prog. archives, until now, chronologically, ( less his 2018 Dissolvi which I heard first ), the maturity acquired in his music composition skills has grown exponentially. What once was a whole composition is now a section or detail of one, without losing his knack for simplification nor sacrificing melodic beauty, his idiom now displays a wider range of creative structures as it is richer, meticulously well crafted (as it usually is) and far more personal and emotional due to its detachment of foreign influences.

A very good example of how you do not have to rip-off TD´s, Schulze´s or Eno´s (nor Steve Reich´s by the way) musical language or pamper yourself behind conceptual explanations to update and continue the Berlin School´s teachings.

An 8 track release where all eight compositions offer up front refreshing, diverse, enticing and above all a personal approach to the 21st century´s electronic music evolution thus to the Progressive Electronic sub-genre as well.

****4.5 PA´s stars.

1. "Horizon Of Appearances" (6:33) gorgeously rich John Serrie-like textured waves with off-world percussion and strings serving as animals or twinklings. Gourmet food for an active imagination like mine. Blade Runner 2049 could've used music like this. (10/10)

2. "Same River Twice" (5:59) opens with a bank of synthesized female voices that are soon joined by sequenced electronic percussives, a variety of arpeggiated keyboard lines, and a loose, almost syncopated bass line. The weave is rich and symphonic; more than minimalist though it has some of those sensibilities, too. Toward the end of the third minute the sequencer programs begin to feel very TANGERINE DREAM-like. (8.75/10)

3. "A False Seeming" (3:19) every ten seconds or so a lush synth chord comes rushing forward like a concussive wave from distant beginnings, washing right over/through the listener. It's an amazing half-comforting, half- exfoliating experience. Brilliant! (9.25/10)

4. "Ketracel" (4:34) straight out of the TD/KLAUS SCHULZE world of early video game soundtracks, the VANGELIS-like buzzing-synth in the lead position calms and reassures--until the two-minute mark when synth/computer pops and glitches take over the sound scape and all other seem unnatural to the musical world yet possible to a computer generated Neo-Jurassic world. Awesome! (9/10)

5. "Time We Have" (5:50) a near-exact replica if a chordal sequence and sound palette of MARK ISHAM from his 1982-5 period (Vapor Drawings and soundtracks to the spacious films, Mrs. Soffel, Country, and Never Cry Wolf). Beautiful! (9.5/10)

6. "Strands" (5:17) beautiful and melodic in a happy, almost New Age way. The John Serrie School of Space Electronica. I'm in heaven! (9.5/10)

7. "Transience Of Earthly Joys" (6:43) heavily treated piano and Mellotron voices yield a very familiar HAROLD BUDD/BRIAN ENO-like soundscape. (8.5/10)

8. "Die In Fascination" (4:21) waves of particles washing through the ocean of space, this is very VANGELIS/ROACH/RICH-like. A little too boring. (8.25/10)

Total Time 42:36

A-/five stars; a masterpiece of modern Progressive Electronic music and perhaps even a masterpiece of progressive rock music in general. Definitely an album that I'd highly recommend for anyone open to the spacey potentialities of modern computer synthesizer music.