Spyra Meditationen Play: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi   Download: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi (Excerpt from track 'Future of the Past Pt II')

There is no doubt about it, Spyra is a class act. He seems to move easily from cutting edge modern electronica to retro / Berlin School inspired brilliance. This album is, in many ways, a hybrid of both. The first half is fairly ambient where as the second is more sequencer driven. We start with 'Mentalized (preloaded)'. Stormy / suburban electronic effects give way to soft pads. We remain in this gorgeous state of float for some time. From the eighth minute, not for the first time, Klaus Schulze came to mind and soon after a slow pulse starts up. Around the half way mark some subtle mellotron samples are used low in the mix giving a further warm glow to proceedings.

Five minutes later things seem to develop a darker, moodier, twist with just a hint of melancholy. A new bass line starts up and the tron can again be heard. Soon after that a piano melody arrives with lovely long decay. This changes the mood once again to one of almost whimsical dreaming. As the piano departs the pads begin to swell and the rhythm becomes just slightly more prominent. We finish how we started but this time with the addition of birdsong as if we have passed through the darkness to a new dawn. 'Composure' starts with a beautiful piano solo- very impressive it is too. This exits in the second minute as deep drones make an entrance, like dark clouds blotting out the sun. Moody organ type sounds add a little unease to the gloom. The sonic palette seems to mutate however, developing quite a metallic feel and provides an even more ominous edge. It is in the eleventh minute that the sequences emerge - and gorgeous Schulzian tinkling ones they are too, right from the mid 70s period. The pads and sequences compliment each other perfectly as each element shifts in the mix changing the focus between the various elements constantly until the sequence disappears altogether in the eighteenth minute to return again three minutes later. As we get closer to the end more cosmic twitters and other electronic effects are added. The lovely piano melody returns to finish.