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Album review

Originally released on the Pole label, Roger's album, like others on that label, fits in with the more abstract electronics records from the 1970s, comparable with Heldon, Conrad Schnitzler, early Tangerine Dream, and Brian Eno in his more experimental moods. The title track, filling up the A side of the record, is Roger soloing on a Yamaha YC45D organ, for music that while ambient is too eccentric and varied to be new age. It's an interesting blend of very spacy bleeps and swoops and rapid click-pulses, while more conventional and melodic keyboard riffs briefly emerge. At one point, the track sounds like atonal free jazz; a few minutes later, it sounds like some kind of harpsichord plunking down chords from centuries-old classical music, shifting from airy little melodies before bubbling back into the more tweaked and free-form soundscapes. On "Au Dela du Langage," Roger switches to a synthesizer, and the track has more tweaking tones over a pulsing drone. For a bit of variety, he strums an acoustic guitar on "Ataraxie," a mellower and more minimal piece. Then "Asyle Cosmique" sums up the record with Roger overdubbing himself on all three of the instruments from the previous three tracks. The album offers some pretty classic '70s synth music that's creative enough to not come off cloying or dated.
© Rolf Semprebon /TiVo