Morpheus Music & The Mall Magazine
STYLE
Expansive beatless spacey ambience created by the establishing of immense translucent zones of overlapping tonal masses. These swelling multiple layers are lustrous and dense like massive backlit clouds drifting in darkness. A warmth breathes into some pieces, still panoramic and open, but with waves and undulations of harmony and serenity. In other places the sound drops away into unfathomable depths where fractal lights play lazily on the surface of the abyss. The density of the music almost impenetrable at times – suggestive of enormity and endlessness. Amnios contains whispering voices, echoing sussurations, a hint of humanity adrift on meandering tides. Ruby For The Sun builds on a rumbling weight of sound, the glisten and shimmer of gossamer membranes unfolding their colour above – electronic washes bathing everything in gliding radiance. Cellular Memory contains near percussive flashes of white noise and trickles of glassy synthesiser, liquid clear amid the oceanic swell and pull of steady drones – the track fading almost imperceptibly, slowly, off into infinite distance …
MOOD
The Talisman engenders a definite sense of awe and wonder – a feeling of universal enormity pervades the whole album shot through with delicate filaments of light and colour. In general the mood is one of ponderous, harmonious drama, the occasional dissonant tones and grumbling clouds usually brightened by shifting unseen luminaries. Rather like a series of aural nebulae – each track has its own distinct personality but all clearly share a common structural nature.
ARTWORK
The imagery on this album is very beautiful – fractal swirls and organic loops and skins laid out one on top of another – all in luscious hues of green, olive and pale yellow. The designs were apparently created using Apophysis 2.04 beta – a neat piece of software ideally suited to producing abstract graphics. Subtle olive lettering disturbs the visual impact as little as possible – tidy and tasteful. Internal panels make use of black and white versions of similar images – with an explanation of the project, recording details and contact information laid out in a simple white font.
OVERALL
Max Corbacho seems to be growing in stature with each release – this is a very ambitious sound presented with a high degree of polish and attention to detail. There are eleven compositions on the album, each created sometime between 2004 and 2006. Max’s promotional material explains that «most of these songs were composed during various, long, deep meditative improvisation sessions». Equipment used for the project included «my beloved Korg Triton & Korg Z1, and sound processing outboard expansion units such Reverbs and Delays, as well some other esoteric gear». The results are timeless, placeless, progression free infusions of harmony, floating as if suspended in the vastness of eternity. The Talisman is released via ad21 Music – a label set up in 1998 by Max and fellow musician Bruno Sanfilippo to showcase their own ambient and contemporary electronic music releases.
WHO WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
If you like Steve Roach’s work, The Talisman might well be right up your street. Professionally produced ambient grandeur – free of beats and melodies, but thick with tenebrous drones and glowing textural density.