Free System Projekt Protoavis Play: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi   Download: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi (Excerpt from track 'In the Ocean of Tethys')

With each subsequent FSP release, their sound goes backward in time. Pointless Reminder was loaded with vintage sounds, but its more structured approach was in keeping with Tangerine Dream from 1980 or so. Atmospheric Conditions moved back to perhaps 1977. Now, Protoavis takes us fully back into the freeform experimental days of 1974 – not of Phaedra so much as Tangerine Dream's long space epics from bootleg recordings such as Live Improvised. In this case, stepping backward is definitely a step in the right direction. I scarcely can imagine Marcel Engels and company improving much further, though they continue to astound and amaze with each subsequent release.

The three lengthy excursions here are so patient in their evolution, rich with electronic music history, full of sonic beauty and life. 'In the Ocean of Tethys' takes more than eight minutes for the smallest hint of a sequence to pop up, initially a simple bass pulse, then developing into something wondrous that can sit proudly alongside masterworks such as Ricochet. FSP has done such a phenomenal job, it truly sounds as if the music must have been actually made in the seventies, rather than recreating that sound in modern times.