Gert Emmens – Nearest faraway place vol. 3

5 reviews for Gert Emmens – Nearest faraway place vol. 3

1. 

   Kristian Persson / Sweden – 2022-11-22

   The latest (and final chapter) installment of ‘The Nearest Faraway Place’ series’ is indeed an album that whet my appetite for more when the last track had finished playing. Each and every track totally mesmerized me and made me want more of the same the more I listened to it. Gert has done it…again!
   There are eight individual tracks on this CD, but the whole installment should be listened to as if it were composed as a one-piece composition, as the tracks floats into one-another.

   The first track, Part 15, starts slowly in a very moody and dark sense, very similar to the album ‘Encounter’ by Michael Stearns, but later fills your ears with Gert’s typical trademark sound that bounces back and forth in a hypnotic manner. Captivating and spacious EM of the highest order!
   From hypnontic and spacious moments to something more emotional and yet again moody, we get to hear ‘Part16’. This track includes some of the finest moments on the entire CD, with tasteful guitars played along with some heavy sequencing in a splendid mix. It reminds me alot of Gert’s first ‘Nearest Faraway Place Vol.1’ album (which also took use of guitars to a certain extent). Top stuff, one of my favorite tracks!
   As the CD is so versatile, structure wise, not one track sounds the same, and yet another track is proof of that!
   ‘Part 17’ is another fantastic piece of EM that filled me with joy! This is probably the most ‘uptempo’ and rhythmic sequencer track on the disc, played in such harmony, and is also quite similar to what you can hear on Gert’s album ‘The Tale of the Warlock’. It’s sound palette & structure is ever changing, and will continue to amaze and inspire each time you listen to it. Good re-play factor!
   ‘Part 18’ continues with the sounds of heavy traffic and other typical street ambience. Soon after you will be greeted with some of THE most emotional sounds EM has to offer. This is one of Gert’s most emotional pieces to date, if you ask me. And after the 6 minute mark you will, yet again, be greeted by some lush guitar playing together with Gert’s vibrant sequencing. Top performance!
   Next track, ‘Part 19’, continues with a long awe inspiring and spacious intro, which soon settles down and transforms into sections with a highly thematic EM feel, almost sounding a bit like the ‘Geodesium‘ albums. This track would be a perfect companion to a Planetarium Show. Sensational!
   And as if that wasn’t enough, the voyage seems never ending as we approach ‘Part 20’. Again, another thematic piece that breathes in and out with deep space elements, but after the 2 minute mark or so it really slows down alot with sad, emotional, and very touching synth lines. A little bit in the same style as ‘Crystal Voice’ by Tangerine Dream. After a few minutes a Inferno of Gert’s fast paced rhythms strikes us again and rounds off the track in a nice way! Impressive!
   ‘Part 21’ starts with a synthetic voice of a ‘robot’, and it seems to me it’s trying to tell us something, I’m just not sure what. This is the shortest part out of the 8 and sounds as if it’s closing the album, it has that typical feel. Not much to mention here. Make up your own mind on this one. A rather experimental piece, with less melody and ambience to it.
   As for the last track, named ‘Conclusion’, Gert makes one of his first appearances with a new talent called ‘Cadenced Haven’. The music here stands out a little bit from the other Parts we have encountered so far. It closes the disc very laid back and moody, in a sad way. A very thoughtful track that did impress me quite a bit. Good job and a warm welcome to Cadenced Haven!

   So to sum this album up, it’s strength lies in the emotional and moody parts of the compositions. The only weakness I found lies in ‘Part 21’. It just didn’t cut it for me. Other than that, this is yet another well-produced album that has great re-play factor! My final words are, It’s bound to take you to yet another ‘Faraway Place’. Highly Recommended! Excellent!!

   2010. Kristian Persson / Sweden

2. 

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

   The Nearest Faraway Place Vol. 3 is the last part of this cosmic trilogy that the Dutch synthesist began in 2008. Once again, Gert Emmens covers his sound galaxy by a pleiad of synth lines with his unique tones equal to his gears conception, where plentiful strata wrap of their foggy cosmic intertwine sequences lines. Sequences, sometimes hesitating sometimes biting but always constant, which cross a cosmic tale under foggy steam synth lines and pleasant weeping solos. A musical universe signed Gert Emmens with a beautiful complicity between analogue and digital. A sound universe where the borders of imagination belong as much to the listener as its designer!

   A distant synth line ripples lazily on Part 15 opening. We could imagine ourselves at a cosmic fair where mechanical streaks tear the firmament below subtle bass pulsations. A sequence comes along. She waddles at good speed, wrapped that she becomes by a beautiful layer of a lyrical synth which frees soft solos through synth mist, whereas the rhythmic bustles in a universe where synth breaths to multi- coloured tones embrace a languishing rhythmic which finishes its race under droplets and cosmic thunders. With years, Gert Emmens left his sound imprints in the wonderful world of electronic music. All that the Dutch synthesiser touches is inevitably transformed into musical enchantment.
   A long movement divided into 8 parts, The Nearest Faraway Place Vol. 3 presents structures with morphic and floating intros which dive into progressive rhythms with always striking sequences.
   Part 16 offers a more cosmic intro with Jan Dieterich‘s guitar which frees soft vaporous strata in a most heterogeneous sound universe. Mellotron strings carry us to a strange ethereal waltz, guiding us near a wriggling sequence which skips nervously to shape a pace which hems on a beautiful bass line. Part 16 becomes then a big cosmic rock, little as Part 20 finale, where Gert Emmens controls skillfully the rhythm with increasing and decreasing sequences which furrow over vaporous inserts and great synth solos.
   After its heavily cosmic intro, Part 17 bites to full teeth in a sequential movement which recall a lot those beautiful TD years. A heavy and nervous sequence that runs breathless beneath the wandering hazes of a foggy synth, until the rhythm explodes and deviates under the strikes of e-drums. Beautiful peaceful solos float above this rhythmic incandescence where we re-know amply the sound universe of the Dutch synthesizer which doesnt stop surprising with its loopy solos and those soft synth blows so personalized that bicker between sequential permutations. Great Emmens there! With its peaceful tempo, escaped from the morphic depths of its introduction, Part 18 is the most accessible musical piece among The Nearest Faraway Place‘s project. A beautiful track sits on a sober sequential movement, where guitar and synth are exchanged solos and vaporous strata.
   After a haughtiness cosmic intro where synth lines hem above stars, a threatening sequential movement bombards the still indecisive rhythm of Part 19. A ceaseless race where the sequential impulse undergoes subtle modulations, among breaths of a foggy synth before exploding beneath a synth to twisted and languishing solos.
   Part 20 offers a caustic and threatening intro, before becoming supple with a beautiful wave of a synth at once nostalgic and protective. A soft and beautiful intro collided by increasing sequences which draw a tempo skipping soberly under a synth to ghostly breaths. Structured in three phases, the movement becomes more hard-hitting with the emergence of electronic percussions which are gobbled up by synth solos which hem and contort under a heavy vitamined tempo. Afterward, we close eyes and we contemplate the end of this long 3 parts cosmic trip with a floating ending where strata confront and collide in a cosmos of ether on Part 21 and mould lovingly in the beautiful orchestrations of Conclusion.

   The Nearest Faraway Place Vol. 3 is in the continuity of the first two volumes. An album where Gert Emmens can seem predictable, but continues to amaze with a subtlety in tones and rhythmic modulations that makes his music as unique as it sounds. As on each of the albums from the Netherlands synthesizer, the music pours between a wonderful complexity of structures and pleasant melodies that hang on to an ingenious sequenced vision and a synth that kicks away its long solos twisted in a strangely foggy poetic cosmic. Some great Gert Emmens, as he always used us to.

   2010. Sylvain Lupari / Guts Of Darkness

3. 

   Artemi Pugachov / Encyclopedia of Electronic Music – 2022-11-22

   The third and final installment of the Nearest Faraway Place” trilogy from Gert Emmens begins with melancholic and mysterious pads. Soon the soundscape is replaced by an unexpectedly optimistic sequence. A romantic lead line then emerges. This is melodic and cosmic at the same time and is very typical of Gert Emmens in style. The sequencing on this track is excellent; the solos tasty and reflective. I should also mention the great programming of synthesizers. Gert has really mastered his instruments over the years. As I’ve mentioned already

4. 

   Roberto Vales / Ultima Fronteira Radio – 2022-11-22

   Nuevo trabajo de Gert Emmens publicado por Groove Unlimited.
   The Nearest Faraway Place Vol. 3″ es la tercera y ltima parte de esta triloga

5. 

   Matt Howarth / Sonic Curiosity – 2022-11-22

   This CD from 2010 features 77 minutes of stately electronic music.For this release, Emmens is joined by guests: Jan Dieterich (on guitar), Tessa Asenjo-Fernandez (on child voice), and Cara Asenjo-Fernandez (on adult voice), and Cadenced Haven (aka Laila Quraishi) on keyboards.

   Pleasant electronics produce tuneage of pacific serenity with a touch of subtle vitality.The electronics are stately and versatile, blending delicate tones with softly shrill pitches to achieve a well-balanced resonance that seethes with high appeal.
   Gentle keyboards establish lilting melodies that glisten with beauty as they drift overhead. Basic themes are set, then looped to run throughout, while additional riffs are then layered in to provide liquid embellishment.There are a few instances of light e-perc, but this music generally has no need of strident tempos, relying more on a sense of fluidity in its structure.
   Guest guitar is present in two tracks. The lush sustains of a slide nature contribute a haunting edge to the openings, then adopt a spacier sound as they offer languid jazzy riffs to the surging flow.

   With this release, Emmens turns to other worlds for musical inspiration, although those other worlds” may not exactly be of an extraterrestrial nature. These foreign realms could just as easily reside within the imagination of far-thinkers or the more desolate vistas of our own planet. Whatever the case