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SynGate CD-R 2023

The album is split into six tracks, all different parts of the CD title. Part One begins with lovely soft pads over which a bright lead is played, accompanied by piano detail. Part Two follows on in similar fashion but without the piano and if anything with even denser dronal backing. It isn't long before a sequence starts up and as with Syn's other albums before this the whole thing has a very Berlin School feel to it. The pulsations bounce along nicely without forcing the issue.

The Third Part has more sequences right from the off, this time combining with some wonderful mellotron sounds and excellent melodic lead lines. It's here that for me the album really starts to take off. This is classic retro styled sequencer music. Subtle rhythms also add another welcome dimension. It's a track which seemed to be like a cross between mid seventies Klaus Schulze and 'Epsilon in Malaysian Pale' period Edgar Froese. During it's duration we get some lovely cosmic wind effects but it's the way the mellotron sounds are handled which impressed me most. In the tenth minute things are stripped down to soft pads / a little haunting tron and the odd bass sequential flourish. The rhythmic content slowly starts to increase again. Now I am reminded more of 'Macula Transfer' period Froese. At just before the fifteen-minute mark a lead line is introduced again, and very nice it is too. Things continue in a blissful slowly pulsating dreamy fashion until five minutes from the end when again we return to cosmic winds with the odd note droplet here and there. It isn't long before Part Four deploys the sequencer, a playful little melody bouncing over the top. This time I am reminded of The Nightcrawlers with a little Rolf Trostel thrown in for good measure.

Part Five features cosmic winds then wonderful twitters. Gorgeous soft melodic pads play in the background completing a rather spacey image perfectly. Within a couple of minutes however the inevitable sequence makes its entrance, again rather Schulzian. Even the lead line has echoes of the great man. It's a track where again the feel of the mid to late seventies, the first age of sequencer driven music, is recreated wonderfully. Lead lines come and go but the sequence rumbles on relentlessly without letting go for an instant for the next twenty-three minutes! That is all but until the last few seconds of the track. The final part starts with half crashing / half breathing effects. I know I have heard something very similar to this before. Even the sequence and lead lines are fairly familiar, Again it has something of an Edgar Froese feel, but then again is it reminding me of something from one of Peter Bauman's first two solos albums? - Ahhh, I wish I could remember! Anyway, whatever, it is a superb little number full of nostalgia. The sequence bounces along almost playfully, the lead line hitting the spot perfectly. A nice way to finish off the album. (DL)