Thursday, April 13, 2017

Dean De Benedictis - “Salvaging The Present” CD

Inventive surrealist sound

Veteran composer De Benedictis has been around for some time, and “Salvaging The Present” is a unique melding of elements from various musical streams, gelled into an immersive and uniquely inventive and personal mix that would easily function as a soundtrack to a playful surrealist film.

Opening with the curious “To The Ends Of Elation”, which joins elements of prog-rock with immersive ambiance, De Benedictis brings together unusual and often disparate elements into his hallucinogenic sound stew. “Micro Souls Anthem” has a similarly upbeat and lively vibe with nicely deep mixing. “Pagoda Tiempo” uses a sampled and effected slice of dramatic orchestral strings before drifting into a more celestial ambience. Just beautiful and so very effective. “Never The Sacred Stretch” could easily function as an electronic soundtrack to a surreal interpretation of “Alice In Wonderland”. “The Purity Of Season 279E” brings to mind a rolling Western desert landscape, somehow, whereas “Whisper County” is a gentle reverberation from times past, as remembered from a wooden porch and a rocking chair. “Regret In G (The Sky Remembers)” closes it out with a drifty, almost shoegazey haze. 

De Benedictis isn’t afraid to cross genre boundaries, and calling this an “ambient” album is a disservice. Aspects are there, but “Salvaging The Present” is a modern electronic music journey that doesn’t have limits or boundaries. It’s a journey that I’ll want to make again.


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