Amethyste - Shimmer
1 rating since posting on Friday, October 31, 2008
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Morpheus Music
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STYLE Lush enigmatic compositions and breathy female vocals. The music on Shimmer is consistently soft and sensuous - low light nocturnes and crepuscular dreamscapes with a touch of cinematic grandeur. Piano phrases tinkle across smooth synthetic pads and broad sweeping strings; chimes and bell trees glisten in the shadows and whilst flutes, harp-like arpeggios and various programmed sounds build beguiling secondary themes that entwine the primaries. There are plenty of intriguing effects adding to the mystery and theatre of the music - recordings of spoken voices, airy swishes and light peripheral embellishments. Amethyste's singing is delivered in very different ways across the various tracks - beautifully layered into warm choruses of silken oohs and aahs, crystal and clear when delivering her colourful lyrics, heavenly or haunting, whispery or operatic. There is no doubt about is this is a singer that enjoys using the whole range of her considerable talent. Her passion pours through some songs - the soaring 'Stay' streaming fluid crescendo after crescendo into blissful dreaminess, 'Wandering Flame' wordlessly drifting and ethereal, 'Entre Ciel et Mer' smooth and elegantly restrained. MOOD Shimmer has an attractive otherworldly air about it, something of the magic of warm nights and fairy tale places. Everything has a slight soft focus, a richness of sonic hue that adds to the impression of story book nostalgia. A melancholy wistfulness touches many of the recordings here - lifted by an angelic grace that keeps the mood generally uplifting, positive. The dynamic delivery ranges from the delicate beatless 'Desire D'Amour' where the whole tracks feels something like an extended gentle interlude to the dramatic breakbeat driven downtempo of 'Always Running'. Music to close your eyes to - in imitation of the cover imagery - fill your mindspace with the luminous clouds of a summer evening, the imaginary scents of dense woodland glades, the imaginative sounds of Amethyste's inviting fantasy. ARTWORK Shimmer comes as a dark jewel case presentation. The imagery and text throughout are black and white with just the slightest of hints of colour. On the front is a tightly cropped photograph of the Amethyste herself, eyes closed, a single bejewelled tear sparkling on one cheek, enshrouded in swirls of hair and night black. Here and there a star twinkles in the background, among the thickly layered tresses, within the focal teardrop. On the reverse, another closed eye portrait, this time in profile, delicate patterns painted in curves and curlicues across the singer's skin. To the left track titles are footed by writing credits and website details. Within is an eight page booklet of strong glossy card adorned with evocative images created by Amethyste. A whole page inside is given over to generous thanks, the centre spread containing a poetic phrase in summary of each track set out over a picture of a huge white bloom and outstretched hand. Another double page layout holds a final shut-eye portrait with the words "Let your dreams shimmer through your life..." hanging in the darkness. OVERALL Shimmer is the second Amethyste album and follow up to the 2006 release Ethereal. The disc comes via the relatively new Bulgarian label AMAdea and can be found along with its predecessor on CD Baby as well as a number of other current musical outlets. The music on Shimmer is composed and performed by German Gunnar Spardel who initially encountered vocalist Amethyste through the internet. Around 2006 the pair began to collaborate seriously, exploring a range of styles from trance to ambient. Although continuing to work with a variety of approaches the fourteen pieces here are all wrapped up in a similar mystique, a unifying vision of vivid hue and sonic chiaroscuro. WHO WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM Shimmer is very much akin to the musical vision of similarly named Amethystium - the shared atmosphere is likely to attract many of the same listeners. There are elements of new age and chill out - but in reality Shimmer isn't really of either of these genres, rather the album resides within that field of romantic musical alchemy explored by such artists as Aria, Blue Stone and Ronan Hardiman. Why not have a listen at the official Myspace page. - Morpheus Music , posted 10/31/08 |
Amethyste - Shimmer was recommended for:
- Tribe: Delerium
- Tribe: Morpheus Music
- Tribe: Falling You
- Tribe: Ethereal Alchemy & Dark Muses
