Anthony Paterra is Majeure.He's better known for his role as drummer/human metronome for Pittsburgh's blessed synth/italo-prog duo, Zombi(he's also co-owner of VCO).On his debut solo venture, Synthesizer Of The Gods, Paterra puts down his sticks (momentarily) to give us a focused, well crafted night cruise via- deep synth workouts, glassy arpeggios, and muscly drum repetitions.At times, his work does bring a rather bare-boned version of Zombi's works to mind, but this stuff is much more straight forward and direct.A few of your favorite kraut and prog heroes, as well as a handful of b-film scores will come to mind, but he is anything but a hack-y revivalist, and these tracks aren't just any old Zombi b-sides or scrapped recording sessions, either.This is Paterra's own personal work, solely for Majeure.
Side A starts things off with "Solar Flare", a moonlit jog that will surely bring any decent John Carpenter film score to mind, respectively.Enter the pulsating percussive thump, and before you know it the beat begins to sink slowly into a vast canvas of icy synth runs and deep, gyrating analog sprints.His Arp Solus has such a warm tone and demanding presence, and really holds things down while everything else just seems to sprout up around it.There's some nice key changes that come out of nowhere, and things tend to shift in different directions pretty unexpectedly, while keeping it's mesmerizing, robotic charm.
Side B gives us the epic "Synthesizer Of The Gods", a strictly synthesizer based piece, that owes as much to Harold Budd as it does Claudio Simonetti.It's rich in texture and full of beautiful chords, and a pleasant listen from front to back.I find that most things of this nature tend to lack in any real movement, or foreseeable destination.I usually bail after the first 5 minutes of any heartless droning, but Majeure's cycles are deep and memorable, constantly flowing in that same direction, yet they all end up in no place in particular, and the slow ride there is a very rewarding trek.Recommended headphone listening.
Edition of 70 on clear cassettes.Get one from VCO.
Posts
