Description
- Morning Run [9:16]
- On The Funky Side [6:23]
- Happy Hearts [6:11]
- Game.Lan [5:11]
- Scrolling Waves [6:27]
- Miami Vibes [5:12]
- In A Groovy Mood [3:39]
- Sunset Lans [4:19]
- End Of A Day [5:33]
Bonus track:
- Sunny Island [4:52]
Fast rhythms and melodies
Sylvain Lupari / Guts Of Darkness –
Hum I dont really know too much! I m a bit disappointed, I have to admit it. I who am a very big fan of the poetic and ethereal EM of Brainwork, I stumbled over Earcatcher. For quite some time, a new musical current seems to develop in Germany; soft techno of Berlin School style. Stemming from line thinking of Moonbooter and Robert Schroeder, this musical movement allies soft steam of a hypnotic and minimalism Berlin School to rhythms sometimes sober, mesmerizing andor furious. And it is exactly the musical envelope of Earcatcher. An album of which the musical bicephalous identity of Uwe Saher pours into the tempting rhythms of Element 4, his Alta Matter.
A soft pad of a vaporous synth opens the paths of Morning Run. These some 3 seconds will be the only ethereal moments of Earcatcher who is literally conceived to hook the ears and feet, except at some rare moments. Im not saying that Earcatcher is explosive or that we struggle on a dance floor, but Earcatcher distinguishes itself from the usual EM with steady rhythms that are rarely interrupted by more ethereal passages. Let say that it carries pretty well its naming! A continuation of skipping chords wriggles with a good line of bass, molding beginnings of this 13th album of Brainwork. Between funk and synth pop to unbridled chords, Uwe Saher displays all its knowledge by sprinkling this long title of beautiful melodious passages where the synth becomes lyrical and mould beautiful twisted solos on a hybrid structure. Although strongly livened up, the dance and kicking sides that moves on Earcatcher are brilliantly adorn of subtle melodious chords which embellish an opus that would be devoid of emotions, as prove on in his Groovy Mood and Sunset Lane and tracks to more lively or dreamily structures.
On the Funky Side presents line of bass which draws a slightly funky structure on arpeggios which collide delicately and a line of synth which waves languishingly while freeing beautiful solos. As on most Earcatcher tracks, the structure of On the Funky Side switches around to offer a variance in harmonies. So beautiful Tablas percussions are add, creating a hyper melodious impact la Tangerine Dream sauce with Iris Camaa percussions, making of On the Funky Side a title with a soft melodious rhythmic, quite as the exotic Gamelan and Miami Vibes.
Happy Hearts plunges us into frenzied rhythms with a voracious line of synth of which notes skip fervently on percussions from which the twinning gives the impression to be constantly in a perpetual wild race. Big techno as well as loud synth pop heavy and catchy which suits very well the naming of Brainwork new opus.
A carousel of crystal clear arpeggios dancing lasciviously in limbo of the dream opens the intro of Scrolling Waves. A soft title a little misled in the rhythmic structures of Earcatcher which reminds the soft universe of Food for Fantasy. Very beautiful, quite as the romantic And of a Day, Scrolling Waves is what comes closer of the poetic universe of Brainwork.
Sunny Island is on the other hand what is closer of Element 4 with his weighty pulsations that bite a heavy bass line, hammering an infernal rhythmic, but strangely hypnotic, of which its weakened keys skip on a Mexican steams synth. A track at once heavy and catchy, as a majority of those that go along Earcatcher!
Disappointed, but not too much! Even if by moment I have the strange feeling to be submerged by the musical structures of Tangerine Dream, areas 90s and 2000, and several listening helping, I liked quite well this Earcatcher from Brainwork. Certainly, we are very far from the Berlin School style of Ten, Back to the Future and even Dreamland, except that Earcatcher is not just an album of dance and boiling rhythms. It is an album led by an intense and livened up musical life for sure, but an album where the soft sensibility of Uwe Saher can be felt in every hidden recess of its hectic rhythms.
2010. Sylvain Lupari / Guts Of Darkness