Neon - Au Théâtre Des Sons Imaginaires
by Maarten Schiethart
published: 22 / 6 / 2007

Label:
Poeta Negra
Format: CD
intro
Superb, totally captivating electronica on first album from ambient Greek duo, Neon
So, Neon is at the Dream Sound Theater now and performing to the imaginary sonic scapes of Greece. These tingle over hills and jump mountains and islands as if in the finest of new age-ish kitsch but wait, on 'Au Théâtre des Sons Imaginaires' there's more evolving than just what the Penguin Café Orchestra and Steve Reich rehashes, so popular today, offer. The album is deeply embedded with a nocturnal urbanism in its sound. On 'La Mer, Indifférente' the soaring guitar chords sound like waves crashing on the shore. This track envisions Athens, where the sea breeze refreshes you after the heat of the city. Byron and Chris Setel, however, built Neon, which is a duo, in case you were hoping for Greek exotica, in Thessaloniki where the Poeta Negra label resides. Neon's album catches both the vibes of glitch music era from the 1990's and industrial music from the later 1970's. The imagery appropriately enough is monochromic. But once you've worked your way in through that upper layer, you'll notice cyclic patterns of sound, like those from moving your finger around the rim of a glass, which are quite captivating. The closing title track threads a glockenspiel against a recording which sounds as if you were on the tube heading back home and hearing the first birds of the morning. On a second hearing, this is a very strong album.
Track Listing:-
1 22:222 Il Se Faufila Entre Les Arbres
3 Perpétuelle
4 Fantômes
5 La Mer, Indifférente
6 Mes Vices
7 Là
8 Je T'oublierai Tous Les Jours
9 Dans Le Noir, L'intimité
10 Anthropos
11 La Valse Des Oiseaux
12 Au Théâtre Des Sons Imaginaires (Acte I / Acte II)
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