Palantir Empire of Illusions

This is a concept album - of sorts. As with Klaus Schulze' 'Sebastian Im Traum' we are taken through a world of dreams with sound effects such as opening and closing doors taking us between thoughts. This album uses a very different musical approach however so don't expect a Berlin School offering. 'Fantasy & Reason', begins with the sound of a door being opened. We then get a gentle looped rhythm and delicate melodies over the top. Its all very tuneful and pleasant. A much heavier rhythm then comes in which really kicks. We get into quite a groove as a high register lead line joins the rhythm- could even be said to be a little funky! The door closes as we move 'Under the Silverwheel'. The sound of an owl can be heard then a big gong and breathy effects. Its a very interesting mixture of spooky sounds. An organ enters then a quirky double bass. A flute is added to this already very acoustic sounding track. I liked it but it certainly won't be to everyone's tastes which is a shame as it is a very well composed piece of instrumental music. We get some more effects then the sound of a heart beat as the title track gets underway. As footsteps get closer the heartbeat gets louder.

Spoken text, 'native' samples and animal noises effectively give the impression of thoughts darting here and there, some of them pleasant, others disturbing. I personally could have done without the series of spoken words after the ten minute mark but it might grow on me. You can certainly hear the amount of work which has gone into this track- it must really have been a work of love. Its one of the best sonic impressions of dreaming I've heard. Things get faster and faster as we approach the end and we are awoken by the sound of an alarm clock. 'Qi - The Energy of Life' begins with some ethnic singing and some more gong sounds with the addition of flute and tabla type rhythms. 'Tranceamazonica' continues with some of the jungle noises from the previous track and ethnic drumming but this time it is more in your face than before. 'Fatal Charm' takes us to a world of fire and the sound of devouring flames. Over all this is a delicate melody both on synth and piano which superbly creates the image mentioned in the booklet of a moth being attracted to the flame. 'Exhibit A' uses powerful rhythms and drones over which a demonic voice can just be heard. Half way through things become calmer and rather orchestral but still with weird effects over the top. This is only a temporary interlude however before the rhythms and voices re-enter and take us back to hell. 'Searching for Words' is a pleasant number with wordless vocal samples- but not really my cup of tea due to a wailing woman rather dominating it. 'The Threshold of Perception' consists of a whole bucket load of sound effects - mainly metallic sounding - with a series of melodic motifs being played over the top. Finally we get 'Spinback' containing more sounds, effects and samples. It isn't until well into the third minute that we get any music as such. When we do its a delicate piano lead line over some bird song. Its almost as if we are finishing our night in restful / peaceful mode as the dreams slowly fade from memory.