Discovery V By David De Michele

 

Discovery V

By

David De Michele

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

The journey ladies and gentlemen is about to start so please strap yourselves in while we leave space dock.  It is always a pleasure to fly into space with the subtle and stunning tones of David De Michele, and this brand new voyage we are taken on is one that takes us forever more into the cosmos, with a new release entitled Discovery V.

The opening offering is an outstanding beginning, and of course proudly it is the title tracks itself, as we lift off with in Discovery V. This is classic De Michele, but here the artist also brings forth a wonderful sense of anticipation within the composition, one that pays the respect forward to its oncoming journey, but builds a level of excitement and certainty as it does so.

The gentle flowing tones of the artist’s synths pave the way now for a delicate composition called Reflections; this is a blissful harmonic convergence of a track that is now one of my personal favourites from the artist’s entire catalogue. One can imagine looking back on our planet, perhaps with a tinge of reflective sadness, but an underpinned reality of tales of a future yet to come to pass, this is such a moving opus of fluency indeed.

First Light can now been seen, there is a slight trepidation to the build here which is simply fantastic, each segment towards the main body of the track is paved with small nuances of utter class, here is a piece that really needs to be used in a soundtrack to a movie, it is so expressive, so vast, and the build within this arrangement simply sublime.

Mid-way into this heavenly new release we find a real gem, it’s entitled Quantum, the word quantum refers to the smallest amount of something that you can have, here David De Michele pulls of a master stroke by creating a sense of quantum minimalism, by manifesting a wonderful ambience within the song, yet juxtaposing that with an ethereal uplifting chorus, sheer genius indeed.

The starting point to this next track, Resonance, had a vibrancy that you may find in the opening segment of a progressive rock release, here is a build so powerfully created by the artist that was absolutely impressive, perhaps even Tony Banks of Genesis back in the day would have been proud of it. The use of a constant forward moving percussion added to the splendid shimmering synths made this track for me simply innovative and artistic with ease.

Switching moods somewhat the artist brings us another reflective moment of magic on the composition Memories. The softness of this track fills me with emotion the way Tomita’s interpretation of Ravels Pavane for a Dead Princess did back in ‘84, the soft pastiche of moving synth work floated around me like veils of regret on a winters day, emotive, moving, and deeply touching with every note played.

The penultimate track off this most illustrious of albums is called Contact, something we perhaps hope for, something that would show us that we are not alone in the universe. This track has that energy about it, a mixture of keyboard work here that ranges from the great works of Vangelis, to the expansive halls of the works of England’s Kevin Kendle. The progression here on this piece is nothing more than a collation of classy fluent passages of musical intelligence.

Our final jump to warp speed will be given to us by the last parting gift from the artist, this is the luminous and accomplished concluding piece called Culmination. This track is like reaching the highest point of a summit and expressing all you feelings of the view once you arrive there, one has to say without doubt, this is a breath taking way to leave the album indeed.

Discovery V by David De Michele is another wonderful addition to the ever growing catalogue of sublime electronic space music by the musician; I could honestly leave this album on repeat for hours and still be in ecstasy at its final conclusion, listening to this release will affirm David De Michele among the ranks of some of the finest electronic musicians of his day with ease.