Faber – Floating Waves

1 review for Faber – Floating Waves

1. 

   Sylvain Lupari – 2022-11-22

   Floating orchestral and chloroformed layers guide us towards Floating Waves. The slow movement envelops us in this oneiric tissue that makes Faber’s music so beautiful. The percussions land 60 seconds later. They adopt the floating curve of this first melodic wave which passes the torch to a synth whose warm breaths only liquefy us on the spot. If the percussive effects and these elements of percussions, out of order compared to the initial rhythm, charm, it is just as true of the synth whose melodious line sings among the stars. The title-track evolves with more moving harmonies, more dominant synth solos and an electronic envelope which cements its elements in a perfect symbiosis for a title to be played on FM. Cosmic effects surround this morphic ballad that a second structure of rhythm, more spasmodic, pushes towards a final shaken by a short mid-tempo.

   Faber’s second album in 2020, FLOATING WAVES is a collection of small harmonious p earls that makes feel good to listen too. Simple, melodious and catchy! Ronald Schmidt has become a genius in the art of making us hear the same thing, with a few nuances near, without us noticing it too much. He always manages to insert something that unhooks us of the same minimalist tune that he crumbles with a skill that deserves our wonder. And always anxious to carry his fan among his sonic dimensions, he pushes us to the limits of Dark Sun with Heart of a Modular and its vampiric rhythm which spreads like a cloud of phantom oscillations brushing the ground and where a synth gets out of breathe in playing in the spheres of a Theremin and of its spectral harmonies. Its finale embraces the perfumes of Jean-Michel Jarre and crosses the borders of Alone at the Beach, where an increasing rhythm awaits us on a mesh of organic pulsations and sober percussions. In fact, the two titles are one since the solos, which are particularly very beautiful, borrow the same harmonies and the sa m e spectral essences as those in Heart of a Modular. The rhythm beats on a kind of ambient rumba which was the delights of the French musician’s cosmic rhythms. Even the chants of the seagulls are almost authentic. We come to another level with Lost my Soul which is another nice French-style electronic ballad, due to the presence of an accordion that sounds retro in a lunar setting delectable for the ears.

   Melancholique Part One is a track built on contrasts. In the first place, the harmonica and the wandering musical scents sound like an introduction to the American Far West. The rhythm that falls is soft, like another ballad finely sculpted by Faber who gives us several on this album. But there is always something that obsesses us! And it’s in the soundscapes that we find them mostly. But here, it’s in contrast since Melancholic Part One is heading towards another oriental-type of ballad. The rhythm changes and becomes fluid. But fluid with a hitch that makes it more gestural, more convulsive like an accidental strobe effect. The solos have this scent of Tangerine Dream here and the synth whistles harmonies weavers of earworms. Breath offers a kind of intro reminding me of the moods of Kate Bush’s Delius. But the form evolves quickly with a good speed in a synth-pop caramelized by guitar chords and glockenspiel tones. Faber injects a dose of relaxation into this track that one could easily hear on Jamaican or Barbados beaches. The guitar sculpts a simplistic thing that takes on another dimension when an electronic xylophone carries it into a universe of sand and of perpetual sun. It’s beautiful and so easy to love that it confuses a lot.

   Coming just after, Endless Time, which is still quite basic, seems complicated. True that the title flows on a strange figure of rhythm without apparent beats except for this creeping mass. The synth lines are like lava flowing between the sinuous gestures of a rhythm which takes more and more its place as Endless Tim e moves forward. The synth layers are very bright in this title which in the end has more than one resource to please people. The problem of Endless Time will become one of homogeneity since Tibeteria also brings us to another level! Strange Berber laments of a cosmic universe flow over a row of intensely burning stone. Frankie Goes To Hollywood-style of percussions ring deep in your ears, suggesting an Electronica coming. But no, Tibeteria remains in a tribal-cosmic envelope with the sounds of stones which fragment. And then, its second push incites to a rhythm of the paradisiac islands of the South. Spacenights does indeed come to us with a cosmic Teutonic rhythm. A slow rhythm finely hammered in order to let the synth express its beauty with other very good stylized solos. A very good title whereas Vocalise could have been found in Voices. It remains that its vocal effects shine with a dazzling whiteness on the opening. The rhythm is soft with its core of bass pulsations tied to these sober percussions which drag their percussive effects constantly in this album. A rhythm fractured very early to leave us in standby mode around other phases of voices. The effect would have been nicer in Voices, the album. Lapping water surrounds the opening of Wade in Blue Waters which uses a slightly jerky rhythm in order to put lights on these synth solos which are part of the riches of FLOATING WAVES.

   Remember; simple, melodious and catchy! What more? Although some titles scared her, my Lise found it very good! When the only bad thing to say about an album is that it’s too easy to like, we have nothing more to say! That says all. A 4 star, because indeed it’s very beautiful and very well done by Faber.

   2021. Sylvain Lupari