KARDA ESTRA & ARTEMIY ARTEMIEV: EQUILIBRIUM

Next work for Karda Estra would to work with young Russian composer Artemiy Artemiev, who focused on the fields of Experimental Music and Ambient.Richard Wileman recruited Ileesha Bailey on vocals and Caron Hansford on oboe and cor anglais for this work, recording his parts at the band's Twenty First Studio.Artemiev, who was responsible for the various effects and electronics on the album, recorded his own music sections at the studio of the Electroshock label in Moscow.All recordings took place during the second half of 2001.As Artemiev was under contract with Electroshock Records, the album, titled ''Equilibrium'', was released on the Russian label in 2002.

Karda Estra's music has been always dark and cinematic, but we are talking about a different thing here.This should be regarded more of an Artemiy Artemiev solo effort with Karda Estra executing on the musical background of the Russian composer, because ''Equilibrium'' is quite close to the fundamentals of Electronic/Ambient Music than any releases of Karda Estra.Extremely hypnotic and at times experimental stuff, which often escapes from the principles of music to become an odd palette of obscure noises and sound effects.Consider this closer to an ambient Minimalism, suitable only for background music or Film Scores.Music structures are rather absent and the album is based on electronic soundscapes and isolated instrumental beats, lacking any kind of energy or even decent executions, only PINK FLOYD have performed in such a manner in the past and moreover the British group only used splashes of Ambient Music in its releases.Try to get through these 10+ min. experimental textures and if you succeeed, you will definitely win the prize of the most patient listener.I can hear echoes of Industrial and Classical Music as well, but the result is very boring, abstract and narcotic to my ears.

This is not a Progressive Rock album.Both words are absent from this release.It's a work filled with experimental, highly ambiental soundscapes, that tend to be extremely monotonous.Skip this one, unless you liked any of the above descriptions you've just read.

I was having a conversation one day with Richard Wileman, and had been looking through his back catalogue and noticed that I hadn't heard everything he had released. So, this how I have come about to be listening to this 2002 album which was a collaboration between Russian composer Artemiy Artemiev (synthesiser, sampler, electronics, percussion) and Richard Wileman (guitar, bass, electronic and acoustic percussion, loops, vocal and woodwind arrangements), along with Ileesha Bailey (vocals, breathing loop) and Caron Hansford (oboe, cor anglais). Apparently, this was one of four collaborative albums released by Artemiev in 2002, and he has certainly had a major impact on the overall sound as there are significant parts where I wouldn't have said that this was a Karda Estra release at all.

It is the songs where Richard has the upper hand, such as "Open Window", where the album comes to life. The background stays where it belongs, and Richard's guitar provides a repetitive motif that works well, but there are many others where this is an ambient electronic album where Richard is not able to make the impact that he would if it was all under his control. That the artists recorded separately, Karda Estra in England and Artemiev in Russia, probably says a lot about the album itself. That Artemiev's name comes first on the cover probably says even more.

I have been a huge fan of Richard for more than twenty years, long before Karda Estra back when he was working as Lives & Times, but although there are elements that I really enjoyed, overall this is just too ambient electronic for me.