Resonant Drift - Full Circle mp3 flac

Resonant Drift "Full Circle" CD

California based duo Resonant Drift, driven by Bill Olien and Gary Johnson, returns with brand new, long awaited work entitled "Full Circle", self-released at the end of 2012 as their 6th album. Wow, the first impression is absolutely striking as the CD is packaged in beautifully designed 6-panel digipak, all artwork by Stew Ivester. Very nice job, so the first extra points must be awarded immediately!!! But "Emerging Currents" massively invade my listening room and the journey unfolds into magnificently immense and expansive wide-screen drone panoramas, flowing and ebbing, utterly warm and tranquil, hauntingly enriched by forest recordings. Sonic enhancements are provided by no one else than The Great Master. Pure magic!!! The next track, "Mists Have Risen", is slightly less scenic, but more intensely meandering, before reaching its peak and then serenely fading out. Bill Olien and Gary Johnson are on this shorter piece again assisted by Steve Roach. "Aurora Breaking" attracts with warmly pleasant and spacious, nearly cinematic washes, nicely flavored with various distant sonic fragments. "And Then The Rain" is leaded by ethereally panoramic drifts, serenely flowing and cascading through few rather intenser passages, throughout embellished with gentle tinkles and swirls. "Cross Communication" dives into darker and rougher terrains with low dronescapes interplaying with harsher corroded industrial noises and primordial rumbles. But still much more evocative than cacophonous. Bizarrely immersing trip!!! "Ocean Migration" returns swiftly into pure atmospheric realms, peacefully captivating and harmoniously emphasized by organic sounds of flowing water and bird chirps. "Soaring Over Elysian Fields", again with Steve Roach's appearance, masterfully blends moaning strings with massively resonating dronewalls tickling my ears, a definite sound check for my speakers too!!! The following number, with 10 minutes the longest piece, "Turning The Wheel Of Time" involve except Bill Olien and Gary Johnson also Steve Roach and Rod Ratelle as composers and both add their mastery (Steve Roach-looping deconstruction, Rod Ratelle-electric bass and electric upright bass) to this composition. It unwraps quite darkly, with some weird otherworldly drones, soon sluggish tribal percussions join the stage. Later the tribal part gets more lively along with the ever-changing, but ghostly wandering blend of strings. Another piece with truly unconventional approach!!! "Fading Memories" (with Steve Roach as additional composer) test your speakers once again, with heavier beats and swirling groovy pulses, all guarded and reinforced by highly evocative string escapades and hauntingly sonorous drones. Absolutely magnificent journey, a real masterpiece!!! Shorter and eerie "Dissolution" reveals breathtaking cavernous mysteries while the closing title track, "Full Circle" returns to beautifully reflective and amazingly cinematic, vast open landscapes. The "Full Circle" is completed!!! Yes, "Full Circle" looks and sounds quite green for this cold wintery season, but I took it with me while wandering through small snow capped forest yesterday and "Full Circle" was as much shimmering as the sunrays shinning through the branches of trees. Pure sonic and visual bliss!!! Last but not least, the mastering was executed by Steve Roach. Without doubt "Full Circle" is a magnum opus by Resonant Drift!!!

Richard Gürtler (Jan 20, 2013, Bratislava, Slovakia)