Shadows Behind Me
https://www.side-line.com/age-shadows-behind-me-album-age/
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Age is an ‘old’ Belgian project active since the late 70s. Driven by the creative spirit of Emmanuel D'haeyere and Guy Vachaudez this project has released an impressive list of productions in Ambient-Electro music. “Shadows Behind Me” was released in 2020 and features fourteen songs.
Content: “Shadows Behind Me” sounds like a move back into time, discovering the Belgian Tangerine Dream. This album first of all reveals diversity, switching classical Ambient-Electro compositions with a strong space-like touch on top with other ambient pieces carried by slow rhythms. Most parts are dreamy-like, but a few passages also reveal a darker sound approach.
+ + + : Age is not exactly a band I am familiar with, but I got the opportunity to discover different works (visit their Bandcamp page), which makes me say this is probably one of the best Belgian hidden secrets! The project sounds in the purest tradition of pioneers in the Ambient-Electro genre and in a way, belongs to those pioneers. The songs are elaborated and accomplished with irresistible analogue sound treatments. The slow cadence injects a dynamic element to the work, which even becomes danceable at some moments. “Endless Hope” is an absolute masterpiece, but I also have to mention “Unknown Destination Suite” mixing bombastic arrangements together with refined piano playing, “Solitude Of July”, which will appeal for Tangerine Dream fans and “Shadowed Lives”, which is a composition with a great progression and dreamy strings in the final part. Other tracks like “Broken”, “Captain Of My Soul” and “On My Way” are also accomplished and sophisticated pieces.
- - - : The artwork of the album could have been better and more professional, but in the end we first of all buy physical releases for their content.
Conclusion: If you’re into good-old Ambient-Electro and the Berliner school, you for sure are going to like Age.
Best songs: “Endless Hope”, “Solitude Of July”, “Unknown Destination Suite”, “Broken”, “On My Way”.
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NéphélomancieSylvain Lupari February 22nd, 2021
“Beautiful and ever torn towards other skies, the first minutes of this album are its most suspicious. Thereafter, it's splendor to lyricism...”
I needed more than one listening to well seized the 52 minutes of this recent album by the Belgian duo AGE that is also available in CD-R format on Groove, as for download on the Bandcamp site of AGE. NÉPHÉLOMANCIE, for inspection of clouds as a means of divination, is a musical mosaic whose greatest peculiarity is this lack of homogeneity which ties up rather well after a few listenings, a few painkillers and finally a few minutes, or at most a dozen, in order to hear a certain coherence, both musical and spiritual. This discovery made me think a lot about good old Vangelis in the time he lived in Paris and that he was already thinking of Blade Runner.
It's with chirps, borrowed from the opening of Supertramp's Even in the Quietest Moments, that the long title-track develops its stratagem of seduction. You will notice that I have a bunch of references to this album. Already, synthesized complaints bear the seal of Vangelis! The arpeggios which also fall there have this tonal radiance of a fragile limpidity. While elements of more murky ambiences, such as strange shivers, thundering noises and sequenced impulses, already muffled after a first breath of oxygen, caress the tissues of our eardrums at the same time as reverberating shadows are getting heard in circumference. The decor also plunges into the sinister with effects of voices to be exorcised and prismatic pulsations that try to suck us into the other parallel universe. The mysterious beauty of the glass arpeggios, that we will hear guiding our emotions throughout the 57 minutes of the album, and the cabalistic side of several atmospheric elements are flirting with the apocalyptic vision of Blade Runner. Especially when the electric piano is making waddle its pensive chords a little after the 10th minute. Moreover, these very good oneiric phases will undoubtedly remind you of this eternal fight between serenity and its tumult, more acoustic goes without saying, of the album Ignacio from the Greek magician-musician. For the duo Emmanuel D'haeyere and Guy Vachaudez, these phases are synonymous with artistic integrity since clouds also have this tendency to anger and to incoherent eruptions when pushed by black winds. And that's how this fascinating title-track unfolds, which reflects in sound these images that we give to our interpretations of the slow course of the clouds.
The bass drum's rollings of the 18th minute announce an entry into the sino-musical territories of NÉPHÉLOMANCIE in a structure of symphonic-electronic rhythm clearly more alive than the last 8 minutes which were sewn into the romance of the clouds. Let's say that Vangelis' China is rather conquering in this 3-minute phase which brings us to another more lunar segment with this always melancholic piano. We are in a phase where we are drifting in the axes of a more cosmic music. The gods and goddesses can thus admire the movement of the clouds which is pushed by dusty breezes. Unstable, the movement remains shaken by brief explosions which weaken our desire for meditation. The entry into the 30-minute territories is focused on a more meticulous approach, a bit like in Beaubourg de Vangelis. On the other hand, the meditative side becomes more adequate here with the ringing of bells, stray arpeggios ringing in solitude and even, further on, these morning bird songs caressed by celestial voices which begin to hum silently. And NÉPHÉLOMANCIE ends in murmurs of EM and its effects, giving again the arguments necessary to hear again this album whose homogeneity was behind its ramparts of modifications since its first note. We just had to hear the 51 minutes from start to finish, to capture its full dimension.
Beautiful and constantly torn towards other skies, the first minutes of NÉPHÉLOMANCIE are its most suspicious! And we must go beyond this milestone of 10 minutes that AGE sculpts with this desire to challenge our ears. Thereafter, it's splendor to lyricism in a very beautiful oneiric album.
Available at Groove and Age Bandcamp
(CD-R/DDL 51:55) (V.F.)
Sylvain Lupari February 22nd, 2021
I needed more than one listening to well seized the 52 minutes of this recent album by the Belgian duo AGE that is also available in CD-R format on Groove, as for download on the Bandcamp site of AGE. NÉPHÉLOMANCIE, for inspection of clouds as a means of divination, is a musical mosaic whose greatest peculiarity is this lack of homogeneity which ties up rather well after a few listenings, a few painkillers and finally a few minutes, or at most a dozen, in order to hear a certain coherence, both musical and spiritual. This discovery made me think a lot about good old Vangelis in the time he lived in Paris and that he was already thinking of Blade Runner.
It's with chirps, borrowed from the opening of Supertramp's Even in the Quietest Moments, that the long title-track develops its stratagem of seduction. You will notice that I have a bunch of references to this album. Already, synthesized complaints bear the seal of Vangelis! The arpeggios which also fall there have this tonal radiance of a fragile limpidity. While elements of more murky ambiences, such as strange shivers, thundering noises and sequenced impulses, already muffled after a first breath of oxygen, caress the tissues of our eardrums at the same time as reverberating shadows are getting heard in circumference. The decor also plunges into the sinister with effects of voices to be exorcised and prismatic pulsations that try to suck us into the other parallel universe. The mysterious beauty of the glass arpeggios, that we will hear guiding our emotions throughout the 57 minutes of the album, and the cabalistic side of several atmospheric elements are flirting with the apocalyptic vision of Blade Runner. Especially when the electric piano is making waddle its pensive chords a little after the 10th minute. Moreover, these very good oneiric phases will undoubtedly remind you of this eternal fight between serenity and its tumult, more acoustic goes without saying, of the album Ignacio from the Greek magician-musician. For the duo Emmanuel D'haeyere and Guy Vachaudez, these phases are synonymous with artistic integrity since clouds also have this tendency to anger and to incoherent eruptions when pushed by black winds. And that's how this fascinating title-track unfolds, which reflects in sound these images that we give to our interpretations of the slow course of the clouds.
The bass drum's rollings of the 18th minute announce an entry into the sino-musical territories of NÉPHÉLOMANCIE in a structure of symphonic-electronic rhythm clearly more alive than the last 8 minutes which were sewn into the romance of the clouds. Let's say that Vangelis' China is rather conquering in this 3-minute phase which brings us to another more lunar segment with this always melancholic piano. We are in a phase where we are drifting in the axes of a more cosmic music. The gods and goddesses can thus admire the movement of the clouds which is pushed by dusty breezes. Unstable, the movement remains shaken by brief explosions which weaken our desire for meditation. The entry into the 30-minute territories is focused on a more meticulous approach, a bit like in Beaubourg de Vangelis. On the other hand, the meditative side becomes more adequate here with the ringing of bells, stray arpeggios ringing in solitude and even, further on, these morning bird songs caressed by celestial voices which begin to hum silently. And NÉPHÉLOMANCIE ends in murmurs of EM and its effects, giving again the arguments necessary to hear again this album whose homogeneity was behind its ramparts of modifications since its first note. We just had to hear the 51 minutes from start to finish, to capture its full dimension.
Beautiful and constantly torn towards other skies, the first minutes of NÉPHÉLOMANCIE are its most suspicious! And we must go beyond this milestone of 10 minutes that AGE sculpts with this desire to challenge our ears. Thereafter, it's splendor to lyricism in a very beautiful oneiric album.
Available at Groove and Age Bandcamp
(CD-R/DDL 51:55) (V.F.)
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AGE in England
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AGE est aussi présent en France grâce à:
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| https://asso-pwm.fr/artistes/age/ |
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About The CD - Age Live in The Muze - Thanks to Uwe Saße
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| Another review of Cosmic Nights - May 2017 |
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-Gartenparty, Hamm - 02.07.2016
Das Musikprojekt AGE besteht aus den beiden Musikern Guy Vachaudez und Emmanuel D‘haeyere, die bereits seit 1977 gemeinsam elektronische Musik machen. Die Beiden waren aus Belgien angereist um bei der Schwingungen Gartenparty zu spielen. Ihr Programm lief unter dem Motto „Hall Of Memory“, denn so lautet ihr aktuelles Album aus dem Jahr 2015. Daneben hatten sie auch noch ein neues, bisher unveröffentlichtes Stück mit im Programm. AGE traten an diesem Tag zum ersten Mal deutschem Boden auf. Darüber hinaus war es auch das erste Konzert, das die beiden Musiker seit 2004 spielten. Somit fand an diesem Tag eine zweifache Premiere statt.
Das zweite Stück zeigte sich dann von einer eher rhythmischen und melodischen Seite. Mit diesem Track konnten sie bei den Zuschauern punkten. Im nächsten Stück bauten sie eine sehr melodische, fast schon romantische Melodie ein, in der man kurz durchatmen konnte, um dann wiederum in sehr spacige Passagen zu wechseln. Teils waren die Harmoniebögen auch von disharmonischen Klängen durchzogen, die der Musik eine ganz besondere Note verlieh.
Nach der spacigen Passage starteten sie den Sequenzer, der seine Rhythmusmuster durch den Garten trieb. Hypnotische Sounds und Harmonien legten die beiden dahinein und erzeugten so ungewöhnliche Klangmuster. AGE haben eine ganz eigene Soundstruktur und doch erinnerten einige Passagen an die „Berliner Schule“. Das nächste Stück „Sadness And Joy“ hatte einen ganz besonderen Charme, denn die eingebauten Akkordeonklänge wirkten wie eine Mischung aus französischer Musik und stilistischen Elementen aus Eroc’s „Wolkenreise“. Der Track wechselte dann aber in eine andere Passage, die mehr nach einem Soundtrack der 70’er / 80’er Jahre klang um im nächsten Moment in einen bombastischen Teil überzugehen. Dies wirkte wie ein Medley. Als Abschluss bauten sie noch eine Passage des Stückes „Guten Abend, gute Nacht“ ein, das aus der Feder von Johannes Brahms stammt und eines der bekanntesten deutschen Schlaflieder ist.
Gleich mit einem Gewitter in Form von synthetischem Donner begann der Set des belgischen Duos mit dem Stück „And When The Morning Came“. Dazu wurden einige Flächen und teils sogar düstere Synthiesounds heraufbeschworen. Das klang zunächst sehr bedrückend. In diese Szenerie sprach Guy Vachaudez einige Worte. In den ersten Minuten erzeugten die Beiden damit vornehmlich Stimmungsbilder. Als hätte Petrus das wahrgenommen und als Aufforderung gesehen, kündigte sich kurz darauf auch wieder ein kräftiger Schauer an, der allerdings dann doch nicht das Konzertareal traf. Stattdessen zogen kräftige Windböen durchs Gelände, die für eine Abkühlung sorgten. Währenddessen steigerten die beiden den Rhythmus, der außergewöhnlich klang und sich dann mit eingängigen Flächen und Harmoniebögen verband. Das erzeugte eine ungewöhnliche aber fesselnde Stimmung.
Als Zugabe spielten sie ein sehr melodisches, rhythmisches Stück, das mich vom Rhythmus ein wenig an Jean-Michel Jarre erinnerte. Dann wechselte es in einen Part der sehr mediterran klang. Nach den beiden sehr melodischen Acts, die das Festival eröffneten, zeigten AGE eine andere Spielart der Elektronik und sorgten so für einen abwechslungsreichen Nachmittag.
Das zweite Stück zeigte sich dann von einer eher rhythmischen und melodischen Seite. Mit diesem Track konnten sie bei den Zuschauern punkten. Im nächsten Stück bauten sie eine sehr melodische, fast schon romantische Melodie ein, in der man kurz durchatmen konnte, um dann wiederum in sehr spacige Passagen zu wechseln. Teils waren die Harmoniebögen auch von disharmonischen Klängen durchzogen, die der Musik eine ganz besondere Note verlieh. 
Stephan Schelle, Juli 2016
