Monday, August 5, 2024

OVERDUE REVIEW: THIERRY DAVID - Slow Motion

Slow Motion
K-Vox (2020)
 
Long-time readers of my reviews know that I have some…well, unusual takes about certain types of music and the subsequent evocations they lead me to. One of these is a subset of ambient (and later chill) music that, for me, paints a specific visual backdrop that almost creates a story for my imagination to transition into while listening. One of these is that of a quasi-Blade Runner-esque urban cityscape but anchored in the present…or even in the film noir past. The backdrop? Rain-slicked city streets reflecting neon bar signs and cheap hotels. It's late…maybe 2 am. Not many folks walk these pavements and the city itself seems to be exhausted with its daily struggle to find optimism in a world overtaken by loneliness, desperation, and hopelessness. Yeah, I can be a depressing kinda guy!
 
The first recording that brought these images to mind was Ben Swire's brilliant EP on The Foundry label, Equilibrium. Later, Marconi Union released two albums that had the same impact on me, A Lost Connection and Distance. Fast forward more than a few years and the highly talented keyboardist Thierry David (who broke onto the musical scene while on the Real Music label) contacted me and sent me Slow Motion. Sadly, in the midst of a myriad of personal problems and Covid, I put my reviewing on hold (mostly) and never got around to spreading the word about his amazingly chilled out and highly atmospheric recording which absolutely belongs alongside the others mentioned above.
 
Thierry David proved himself adept (to say the least) during his stint recording for Real Music by releasing albums in an assortment of styles, e.g. spacemusic (Stellar Connection) and chill-out (Zen Pause). Even aware of David's abundant talent, when I first played Slow Motion, I was unprepared for what greeted my ears that first playing. Mesmerized, enthralled, transported are all words that came to mind as these seven excursions into a moody, atmospheric, and shadowy world issued forth from my speakers, all encased in a framework of subdued and superbly performed chill-out music. A mixture of reverbed piano, layers of ambient textures, muted rhythms, and other elements comprised an ultra-evocative soundscape. And that's what this review's first paragraph alludes to, i.e., I couldn't wait to go out one night and drive the darkened streets of Minneapolis listening to this superb soundtrack for a solitary urban excursion.
 
Slow Motion isn't sad or melancholic or even dark in any traditional sense. It's moody, provocative, subtle, and even comforting in a strange way. It envelops you in its own unique musical vision of beautiful, compelling, unsparing sensations of the aforementioned urban loneliness, all propelled by piano, synths, textures, and rhythms. Again, remember these are my evocations. For all I know, some might consider this music cheerful or upbeat. But for me, it's the opposite which does not take way from how much I love the album; in fact, it underscores the appeal it holds for me.
 
While each track paints its own picture, the "play-through" quality is off the chart (by that, I refer to the desire to not skip tracks and play the entire CD in one sitting). The album is masterfully produced, mixed and mastered (see below).
 
ALBUM DETAILS
All compositions by Thierry David
Created, arranged, and performed by Thierry David
Recorded and mixed at K-Vox Studios in Paris, France
Mastered by Pierre Jacquot
Artwork by b=Thierry David
Artistic supervision by Christine Pariselle
All instruments played by Theirry David except:
Brushes, afuche, angklungs,cymbalettes, and cymbals by Steve Shehan
 

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