|
|
Karda
Estra - Thirteen From the Twenty First
Surrealisms:
1. Dorothea's Nightmusic (3:28) 2. The Ribbon Of Extremes (4:09) 3.
John Deth (3:20) 4. Autumn Cannibalism (3:58) 5. Sleeping Venus (2:15)
Miniatures: 6. Bathed In Light (2:28) 7. The Toy Musician (2:24) Soundtracks:
8. Evolution - Theme From "The Jag Man" (revised) (2:42) 9.
Remember Me (2:49) 10. Soulsearcher (4:38) 11. Rex Mundi (5:43) 12.
Repercussions (6:45) 13. River (6:48)
Total
Running Time: 48:47
Moods.
Embracing, warm ethereal moods. This is Karda Estra. A project led by
multi-instrumentalist Richard Wileman, led by the fascination of creating
art in the most surreal and unimaginable way, guiding melodies and atmospheres
by delicate, meticulously treated, intricate textures and freely flowing
layers in a nebulous cloud of perfectly arranged sounds. Karda Estra
came to be as soon as Wileman's previous band, Live & Times, dissolved.
He, along with singer Ileesha Bailey, decided to keep writing music
and expressing his creativity through an atmospheric, orchestral band,
focused on conveying deep feelings and emotions without any preconceived
musical boundaries.
Thirteen From the Twenty First is the band's sophomore release;
an amazing, mellow record divided into three sub-sections: Surrealisms
(compositions inspired by surrealist paintings from artists like Salvador
Dali and Yves Tanguy), Miniatures (two pieces led by two quartets multi-tracking
both of their respective parts) and Soundtracks (reworks and new compositions
for the underground movie scene). The album tracks defy being categorized
as songs, having no resemblance whatsoever to any of the average commercially
oriented tunes one normally listens to, and I'm speaking in a very diverse
sense here. Putting it another way: the music has no similarities in
any way to most of music's common genres. Instead, most pieces remind
me of the music normally heard on an obscure Kubrick movie or an open-minded,
surreal, independent film, with the strong characteristic of being excellently
well arranged and otherworldly.
As one can see, the entire album goes in all directions, covering a
very extensive array of soundscapes and drowning the listener in a sea
of textured, intertwined layers that suggest a very pleasant hallucinating
trip. Still, these compositions have some profound characteristics in
common. They all follow the same atmospheric-oriented path, a constantly
changing, melody-driven approach, and are extremely amorphous; lacking
any solid shape or form. The pieces are simply guided by whatever comes
along, taking innumerable unexpected twists, and demanding the listener
to simply let go and listen. In most pieces, the music is strongly swirling
from one style to the next, as displayed by tracks like the gothic and
dramatically eerie, atmospheric soundtrack "Soulsearcher,"
the bizarre and surreal "Autumn Cannibalism," or the mellow,
relaxed ethereal piece "John Deth."
I know what you are thinking: "All this sounds pretty good, but
I'm surely not taking the risk of buying a record with trippy, atmospheric,
indefinable stuff that most probably would wind up being a very indigestible
album. I'm sure only a few select listeners are capable of appreciating
that." Well, if I was reading this review (as you now are), those
are the obvious thoughts that would cross my mind. But, today, I beg
to differ. Thirteen From the Twenty First is a fine surreal masterpiece.
Let's just say that, considering myself an average music listener, mostly
preferring a rock-based unit to any other musical style, this album
is a quite pleasant otherworldly experience.
-by Javier Elizondo
back
to top
|
