Cosmic Hoffmann – Astral journey

1 review for Cosmic Hoffmann – Astral journey

1. 

   Sylvain Lupari / Guts Of Darkness – 2022-11-22

   Initiated by SPACE GEMS in 2007, ASTRAL JOURNEY is the 4th and probably last part of Klaus Hoffmann-Hoocks archives collection. Did the pioneer of the progressive cosmic rock really forget the small jewels in his case? Apparently yes! Contrary to 2009’s HYPERNOVA which dithered between soft cosmic rhythm and an ambient sound world, ASTRAL JOURNEY dawdles between pure and hard rhythm and beautiful meditative ambient atmospheres: a beautiful return to sources from the man behind MIND OVER MATTER with a cosmic rock approach of the 70s but with freshness contemporary.

   Fine minimalist pulsations, of which the echo astride the sumptuous curled strata of an ethereal synth, draw the slightly syncopated rhythm of The Call of Gullu: sound arcs which unwind in hoops under the lines of a synth to wandering, rippling and captivating layers, while the tempo grows heavy with a good line of bass which becomes more caustic. Heavy, the rhythm becomes jerky and spins under the lines of a synth to rippling and wrapping strata, shaping the beginnings of a beautiful cosmic rock where the rhythmic paradox between the more and more frenzied loops crossing a synth to astral lines mould a strange cosmic trance.
   Vaporous and dreamlike with its lines of synth to acuteness’s strata and its chords of solitary guitar which revolve lazily Medusas Hair floats in a cosmos of ether with crystal fragility.
   Beautiful, soft and tender before the stormy Galactic Opera and its heavy sequenced pulsations which skip on an undulating structure, beneath a synth with a gyrating line and a Mellotron to foggy breaths. Aggressive, the pulsations hammer an infernal rhythmic which crescendos in an ascending cascade, in a cosmos encircled by foggy pads and by a synth to eroded lines: a heavy and powerful intro that recalls RAMPs and REDSHIFTs dark world with its dark approach and where the synth spits its lines of fire in a luciferian atmosphere. At around the eighth minute spot, the rhythm calms down to enter into a sphere sharply more ethereal with a splendid and tender Mellotron to poetic lines. A sphere of turbulences with the return of heavily nervous sequences which flicker around this magnificent astral divinity which suffocates this spasmodic sequential tornado to penetrate into a sound world stuffed with daydreamers strata that waltz unconcernedly in a celestial surreal dance.
   Orbiting Neptune is a delicate cosmic procession where a light hammering introduces a soft and hypnotic sequential movement. A peaceful structure encircled by fine resonant circles, surreal choruses and a synth line tinted by reverberations to hybrid tones which become entangled subtly with chords of a discreet guitar.
   Spaceflight brings us towards a quite other musical direction with its sequences that wave and hiccup while merging with piano arpeggios, as well as its Mellotron with much livened up, even dancing strings. Some very lively space funk with chords and sequences to hard-hitting resonances!
   Supernova returns to the soil of cosmic rock with its nervous sequences that flicker nervously beneath beautiful synth strata of which smooth astral layers are next to fine solos which spin in loops in a crystal clear musical universe.
   Crab Nebula concludes this last collection of unheard works of KHH with an ambient sweetness. Lines of synth sing under the moon, in a stellar forest to elongated analogue tones, accompanied with a soft Mellotron to lyrical embraces. A very beautiful way of emptying Klaus Hoffmann-Hoocks musical box!

   I really liked ASTRAL JOURNEY and its balance between the rhythm and the celestial sweetness. A very beautiful album where the duality between heavy nervous cadences and slow floating astral atmospheres get entangle marvelously in a timeless sound universe that has no borders.

   2010. Sylvain Lupari / Guts Of Darkness