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.

«Max Corbacho, the spanish artist who lives in Barcelona have been quietly working on a new release named «Nocturnal Emanations». well I can tell after some deep listening what a ‘great’ effort this is. A few years ago he surprised us with his strong debut ‘Vestiges’, followed by the glacial, massive and deep atmospherics on ‘Beyond the Immobile Point’ to the long outstretched simmering waves on ‘The Resonant Memory of Earth’, and now he just came around the corner with new inviting deep explorations which draws us back to what he has called ‘the Earthcall’. Always been fascinated and inspired by books, poetry (referring to the intriging lines in the booklet) and of course the beautiful Catalan landscapes of north Spain which has been also greatly influenced Salvador Dali’s works, he makes tremendously mature/mayor efforts on his 4 releases of which ‘Nocturnal Emanations’ is clearly his biggest leap forward. And I was so fortunate to have the first glimp on this very impressive release.

The opening piece ‘A spark of deity’ witnesses us, surrounded by beautiful and intriging use of field recordings, that something is about to come. Slowly from a far distance, thick swelling underground clouds are getting closer and growing bigger, obviously we just have passed our point of no-return.and the adventure starts. The title piece is bringing us to a safer and more comfortable place but we still have to look back over our shoulder. Slowly a pulsing tribal cyber groove gets through, dusty clouds bright twinkling light streams are reaching us and in the meanwhile the groove gets deeper and more powerful into the sublime space of ‘Abandoned wind’ hovering and floating gently around, a feeling of enlightning is reaching us.

Worth to mention again is Max’ use of (processed) fieldrecording, carefully blended with his atmospheres, contributes a rich openness and freshness -I would say- rarely heard. The 5th piece ‘Along the moonlight rift’ starts right off with a fantastic, incredible deep groove, more and more gliding layers of sound are coming in and set course to a powerful setting, the powerful meets the emotional, I guess a favorite space of many. Here, Max clearly shows what he’s capable of. This piece -like the title already suggests- has really the feeling of walking along a giant moonlit ‘rift’ under a huge clear starry night sky. very visceral indeed. From bright skys we step into a morphing and dusty space where -if we want to- ancient singing winds and erosions can be heard and felt, the rhythm here is slow but very intense, like it’s guiding your bloodflow. Speaking about fractal rhythms patterns, on the 7th piece, an elastic groove seems to dance it’s own way through thick fog banks, playing this one loud is an experience on it’s own. The last and probably my most favorite piece ‘Birthplace of the occult fire’ is leaving us in a place where life floats forever. just beautiful.

It’s obvious that Max has a perfect grasp on his machines and knows very well how to set his tone colours through the various stages. After many listening, still new structures and layers can be heard, the repeat mode is definitely a must here to feel Max’ -deep- shifting rides. Each of his disks has a distinct sound and feeling with strong desire and I feel that ‘Nocturnal Emanations’ is topping that. It has been some time ago that a record had such grip on me. I’m very sure that this disk will appeal to many of us. All I can say is; well, well done Max!»