8.03.2011

CD Review: Geyser - Atmosphere

by Lydia Takemoto
August 3, 2011

Atmosphere
Atmosphere
Geyser (Riad Michael)
Release Date: 12/29/2005
Label: Geyser Recordings
©2005 Geyser Recordings
In anticipation of the upcoming album Fifth, by Geyser (Riad Michael), Massa and I have recently obtained promo copies of this German musician's 2005 ambient-downtempo album, Atmosphere, and his more experimental work, Concrete. Having worked with Geyser before Massa is already well aware of his talent for producing beautiful tracks, but this one album - Atmosphere - personally caught my attention.

Just as the name suggests, Atmosphere is certainly a mood album, and it does an excellent job of combining the talents of a wide variety of collaborating artists around Geyser's core sounds. Starting off with a touch of world instruments and skilled use of dissonance in "Tek 1," the album sets off on a high-altitude course, reminiscent of the album's name. "Pass" is another great ambient track, this time featuring the angelic voice of Estel Hagdorn to produce a calm sound with a sense of lingering grief - like the fading, warm glow of dusk as the sky gives way to darkness, as depicted on the album cover. Moving down the line a bit, the uplifting lounge sound on "Anker" is well accompanied by the energetic sax of Boris Lange, whose kinetic melody kicks the mind into motion. Immediately following, we come to this author's personal favorite track, "Axon," aptly-named, as it combines a high bpm with surreal ambient sounds to create a sense of "calm" urgency - like when the mind-brain fires up an electrical storm and finds focus in chaotic tension just nanoseconds before sending the body into action.

Stay tuned for a review of Fifth in the near future.

Listen to Atmosphere:




Participating musicians (in addition to Geyser): Michael White (aka Yuniversal), Ayhan Doger, Estel Hagdorn, Daniel Michael, Virginia, Markus Schlösser, Boris Lange, Dön, Aimé & Ingmar Niecke

Atmosphere is available on Amazon, iTunes, and a variety of other online distribution channels around the web.

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