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Sinoia Caves, "The Enchanter Persuaded"
This reissue of Jeremy Schmidt’s album as Sinoia Caves is a nice homage to the analog synth pomp of '70s prog and psychedelica, from the music right down to the fonts used on the sleeve. The music is excellent but The Enchanter Persuaded isn’t intended as a manual in how to shake things up using a synthesiser; it’s a straight up tribute to synths as how they used to be played.
Brah
The otherworldly “Dwarf Reaching the Arch Wonder” sounds like the celestial atmospheres of Hawkwind or Acid Mothers Temple stripped of everything bar the synths. Washes of synthesiser swim around the room, gentle drones and tinkling chimes color the piece further. It is very dated sounding but that isn’t a problem because it is so damn good. It slowly builds up and up like it’s moving outwards and upwards through the heavens, the album could finish after this one piece and I’d be happy (and putting the track on repeat).
Luckily the rest of The Enchanter Persuaded is of a similarly great caliber. Schmidt doesn’t stick to the same formula but moves around some classic synthesiser styles, exploring the versatility of the analog synth. “Through the Valley” has elements of Mogwai and Kraftwerk with its slow, interlocking melodies and vocoder laced vocals. The pieces all are elegantly simple, allowing the synthesisers to breathe and using other instruments and voices sparingly to highlight the beauty of a good synth. Schmidt shows that he is highly proficient at using a synth but doesn’t show off with Rick Wakeman style keyboard histrionics. The album climaxes with the epic “Sundown in the New Arcades (Milky Way Echo)” which revisits the interstellar enormity of the opening track. Sounds like strange animals calling across vast distances make the piece disconcerting and unsettling, it is like there is something on the other side of the speakers trying to get out.
The Enchanter Persuaded sounds like a lost classic by some synthesiser obsessed eccentric from 1973. It is a fantastic piece of work and it definitely deserves this reissue to get it to a wider audience. Although it is a shame this was released on CD, I think a vinyl only release would have really suited the aesthetic of the album. At least the CD will survive more wear and tear from the repeated plays that I plan to give it.
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