Alpha Wave Movement- The Mystic and the Machine
(Harmonic Resonance Recordings)
Alpha Wave Movement- The Mystic and the Machine
(Harmonic Resonance Recordings)
From Aural Innovations #39 (May 2008)
Gregory Kyrylak has been releasing ambient new age electronica since 1997.
This material was recorded between 2005 and 2007 and has Steve Hillman (UK based
musician) listed as playing guitar on 4 tracks. The tracks vary quite a lot
as they should! Going from somewhat new age stuff like Highland Aire Drive to
almost prog rock stuff. The opening track, Synaptic Overdrive, is a really
interesting one and really highlights Gregory’s skills at composing and
he incorporates Steve’s guitar in a very nice way as well. L’ Ocean
est une Tempete is a beautiful and spacey piece of music with flute samples
(or very good flute sounds from one of the many keyboards Gregory employs. Every
Flute tells a Story features Steve again and after a few keyboard and flute
solos towards the last half of the song Steve’s guitar comes in and creates
a slightly different mood. Remember the Dream is a beautiful spacey piece with
programmed strings. Very lush. Mind Phased Pictures has a cool beginning with
an interesting synth line as the track builds up with programmed drums and bass
and then a cool organ solo. There is lots of great synth playing on this track
which is a lot different from the last few new age ones. Festive Ancestors features
Steve again and slowly builds up with a drone and some piano but becomes a more
uptempo electronic piece with bass and drums and then finally guitar but not
sounding like what you would think. Highland Aire Drive is short synth piece
with a slight Irish touch to it. Space Zeppelin over Moab starts very spacey
with some nice piano and Steve comes in much earlier on this track and fades
out but then plays a real guitar solo (with a keyboard sound) on the last half
of the track. It enters a more 90’s Pink Floyd territory. The CD ends
with the title track, which has a lot of different moods and is very spacey
in the middle section. I think this is a highly successful collaboration and
I would like to hear more from these guys together in the future. His Kurzwell
keyboards give all of his compositions a very rich sound.
Check out the artist's label web site at: http://www.home.earthlink.net/~alphawav
and http://www.stevehillman.net
Reviewed by Scott Heller