Unidentified Ambient Phenomena, Vol. 1 By Piscean Daydreams

 

Unidentified Ambient Phenomena, Vol. 1

By

Piscean Daydreams

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

I had the great pleasure this afternoon to immerse myself into an EP that was just the musical panacea I needed, that collection of sublime arrangements is called Unidentified Ambient Phenomena, Vol. 1, and has been released by the artist known as Piscean Daydreams.

This, as some might know, is my stomping ground, I adore electronic ambient music like this and produce my own music in this genre as well, so for me its inspiration that I am seeking, and I got a plethora of that through this amazing release.

The opening piece Neptune’s Embrace is a powerful, yet floaty construct, and is a track that immerses the listener fully; one can truly feel like they are swimming in the lapis seas of mythological deities, in fact only yesterday I was walking along Poseidonos Avenue in Cyprus, the home of the Greek equivalent, and at eventide this music would have represented this area perfectly, this is a submerging offering that creates a warming and caressing sound around the listener, and in the most beautiful of ways.

The natural sounds of the ocean leads us into track two entitled Transmedium, I must state now that this was my personal favourite from the album, there is a real “as above, so below” feel to this creation that is undeniable, at times the synth electronic performance reminds me of both the more mellow side of Andy Pickford, and perhaps the more fluent aspects of Brian Eno, regardless this is a composition of utterly high quality.

The third of our four manifestations is the penultimate offering entitled Like Tears in Rain, and is indeed a grittier piece, one that has elements of the movie Bladerunner contained within, think of the original movie only, and the Vangelis music that accompanied that moment, he gazed out of the window to look upon a rainy night and the constant flickering of the neon lights and advertisements below, and you will no doubt see where I am coming from. A stunning locational reverie indeed, and one that has a defined sense of emotion contained within as well, thanks to that wonderfully embracing sweeping synth.

How could you not like the opening of this piece, it was like placing an old 45 on a turntable again, immediately drawing one back to a past life of static, dust and great music, my first Tomita album sounded like that, but here the artist adds a delightful eastern vibe to the weave of the composition called Echoes of a Forgotten Past, and goes onto build an arrangement that in truth you never want to end, if this track had gone on for 20 minutes I wouldn’t have minded, and what a sublime way with which to conclude the project.

There can be no doubt that Unidentified Ambient Phenomena; Vol. 1 by Piscean Daydreams is a quality release, up there with the best of the ambient electronic genre, one can only look forward to Vol 2, but here on this collection the listener will find a thoroughly intelligent and professional recording, one that not only captures the subject matter perfectly, but brings them some of the finest examples of modern day EM, Vangelis would indeed be proud.