Amor Mundi (Life As An
Infinite Flow)
By
Anantakara
Written by
Steve Sheppard
I have been fascinated by the musical journeys that Anantakara have taken me on over the
last few years; these sojourns of electronic majesty have really been deeply
artistic and utterly transfixing. The delight here is that I now have the good
fortune to write about this latest release entitled Amor Mundi (Life as an Infinite Flow).
This journey of sight and sound starts with the track Shimmering Times, a piece so addictive
to listen to, its ever expanding narrative draws the listener into a whole new
realm of electronic magic.
Show Me Your Wonder, has a delightful depth about its
construction, listen intently to its tones and vast nature, then perhaps like
me, you too will be pulled into a world of expressive and expansive brilliance,
the staccato stringed elements and the percussive backdrop, is all cleverly
manipulated into a weave of musical genius which would become something truly
special to behold.
Chthonic Memories contained a few effects that I have
created on my own electric guitar to open with; this would lead us nicely to a
portal of crafted and extremely artistic segments of music, which seemed to all
have their own musical spheres to rotate within.
As we move deeper into the album I would find one of my
personal favourites, this gem is called Sister
Moon. There is something so tranquil and peace filled about this offering,
its repeating energies also reminded me a little of an old style Eno offering called
Discreet Music. The build here was
also well worked, and its electronic nature and heart beat could be felt
throughout the remainder of this truly superb offering.
As we nudge the musical envelope further across the table of
tone, we come to a really fascinating track called Amo Ergo Sum. Translated it means I love, therefore I am. This adds so much to its riveting ever
onward movement; for me the underpinned fluency and explorative essence of this
track made it another personal favourite.
The light textures of this next piece entitled The Riddle of a Soul, were ones that
brought us a fascinating insight into the compositional structure of the album,
here we would find subtle and haunting flute sounds that created a wonderful
new age feel, partnered with the stylish electronic motifs, it took the piece
to a whole new level.
We are now in the second half of this fine collection of
compositions, and as we constantly move forwards we find ourselves at a doorway
marked Riding The Flickering Crests.
There was a tantalizing smoothness about this track that was deeply addictive,
its subtleties altered ones perception in the middle half of the track, as a
more percussive energy started to come to the fore, but always with the
symbiotic partnership of the albums over all electronic nature.
Amor Mundi (Life As An
Infinite Flow) is
certainly one of those albums that you must not take your eye off, you may have
to listen to it over and again to truly appreciate all the nuances contained
within, like this next piece called Deus
Sive Natura. The keyboards manifest an imploring narrative within this
piece, while the backdrop of string sounds and percussion do a blissful job of
creating a sense of expectancy and tension, in what is the longest track off
the album.
We have now entered a realm that is almost multi-fractal in
nature; it is called The Matrix
Time-Walk. Here is a piece that would be all too easy to get lost within,
and in some ways reminds me in music, of the artistic endeavours of the Escher great work entitled Relativity. It is a track that is
infinite and ever expanding in its surrealist nature.
The depths we have travelled now become apparent, as we now listen
to a composition called A Secret Might.
Here the intensity of the offering is well hidden, allowing the natural order
of the arrangement to come through on its own, and audibly grow; this is an
amazingly crafted track that one could easily get carried away with, its
beautiful sense of suspense and anticipation is a thing to revel in.
The penultimate offering is called Strata. The ever present probability of expectation seems to start
to be realised here, as a rhythmic percussive beat joins the fray and the
artist creates something spectacular and almost cinematic in Isao Tomita style.
The last piece off the release is entitled Irresistible and it truly is, and as an
end composition one never really knows what is around the corner of this moment
of musical cleverness, the bass work is perfect and the following electronic
build and progression creates a dynamic and fluent end to what has been a
captivating release.
Amor Mundi (Life As An
Infinite Flow) by Anantakara is an album that all fans of
electronic music, seekers of ambience and worshipers of truly artistic tones
will adore, it’s a journey that never ends, but one that will create layer upon
layer of expectation, intent and anticipation as you listen. If this appeals to
your sense of musical perception, then you need to make this album a home in
your musical world as soon as possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment