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ROBERT REED, ROBERT REED! Known by chance with CYAN, then on MAGENTA, a little with KOMPENDIUM but above all with his covers, his mixes, finally his personal digressions with the "Sanctuary". Robert is a multi- instrumentalist and one of the best keyboard players, owning analog synthesizers like "in the days when we took the time". He has just composed this concept opus with Les PENNING who works as narrator. Album coming out with graphic plates telling the story of these aliens trying to restore the depraved and polluted world we have created; album available as CD, DVD, limited edition.

- Part 1 course: "Erthhynge" where the nod to Jean-Michel JARRE in the line of "Oxygène" then to that of VANGELIS and "Spiral", a velvety atmospheric synth on a story that ends at Stonehenge, a sound that also recalls the soundtrack of "Blade Runner", it starts well. "The Hawk and the Harbinger of Dawn" and the dark interlude, on a step, a fatal ode in the middle of the church and "Stoneborn Watchers" arrives on a techno rhythm à la NEW ORDER which denotes and does not only make a souvenir album, a bit of "Concerts in China"; a title that exudes regressions just to make you revise your electronic classics, a beautiful melody; "The Man of Sight and Feathers" continues with a grandiloquent sound à la VANGELIS then we go back to "Blade Runner", a few touches of Mike OLDFIELD with his tubular bells then of the scriptwriter and instrumentalist in his spare time that is John CARPENTER for a piece blending cheerfully intimate and optimistic atmospheres. "Witness" ends this first part with new-wave synths straight out of an ORCHESTRAL MANEUVRES IN THE DARK track; it's kitsch, dancing, synthetic with analog parts of JARRE from the beginning coming out of this melting pot.

- Part 2 course: "Stoneglow Warnings" with always the voice of Les in the preamble as on the music of Mike OLDFIELD: announcement of programmed memories of "Chariots of Fire" and "China" with its music of mandarins at the time of the Mellotron, it is beautiful over the listening especially that I also find there fragments of "Magnetic Songs". "Stalemate" for a remix, voice of Les reminiscent of the famous bells, of the synth you want some here, it goes in all the directions and the basic rhythm and bassist of TANGERINE DREAM literally explodes on this title giving it a catchy tune; "Dust and Flowers in a Lost Eden" for the second dusting interlude flirting with science fiction which rests a little and then "Gatherings at Farewell Places" arrives, I think of "Chariots of Fire" with its immense melodic line, then dark tones of the "Albedo"; finally it turns on a "Spiral" or a "Pulsar", it leaves to scratch our electronic memories yes. "Erthsheelde" and the long finish bringing together the mythical atmospheres of the 70's and 80's: a scraping melting pot between VANGELIS, TANGERINE DREAM and Jean Michel JARRE, more complex title, almost tortured, nods to these three precursor electronic entities hitting our minds with basic two finger sounds mixed with other symphonics seeming to come out of several keyboards.

Robert REED has this ability to combine the minimalist sound of a JARRE with that of a bombastic VANGELIS, new-wave keyboards from OMD or ULTRAVOX; symphonic arias form the basis of its titles and evoke the genesis and destruction of humanity, just that! It gives new life, not it transcends the electronic music which bathed our youth, it makes us revise to avoid Alzheimer's; He brings with this album two distinct sides, on the one hand the immersion of childhood electronic groups, on the other the retranslation of songs and arias that are no longer heard but still spinning in our heads. He is in fact a musical alchemist who at first puzzled me, very quickly melted in front of this delicious crucible. The 19-minute bonus version gives classic retranslations of some titles.