Charlatan - Triangles

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

5...according to our Brian on Thu 21 Jul, 2011.

John Michelle Jar and his Oxygene sounds have recently become fashionable on the underground. Well, if Tangerine Dream can be trendy why not the audacious Frenchman and his psychedelic banks of luminescent keyboards? The first track on here has a subtle JMJ pulse but the swirling plethora of glacial ambient keys is more akin to something deeper, more profound. The press talks about a "religious" sound. I'm unsure about that but it's definitely a magical-sounding tapestry and if "heavens" means free, up-in-the-sky, this song is a whole flock of birds doing dreamy aerobatics in the distance under the warm glow of the evening sun. Totally blissful and quite mesmerising!! Some of those ace fizzy cosmic synths come to dance in your mind on the next piece with some stately drones forming a calming bedrock and some lovely twinkling bloops finish off the vibe. The concluding track on side one is another gem with some hugely melancholic and sad keyboards over a gorgeous astral pulse. Over t'other side and we've a track 'Traces' which could easily fit in with some of the gear being released on Tri Angle, a half-paced '80s electro beat with some cool l'il android melody peeking out amidst some murky cavernous shifting drones. 'Foxes' is beatless once again but nevertheless conjures up some delicious dreamscapes with its ambient rhythm and mangled stargazing synths wandering around your mind. It is possibly my favourite track, just for how it makes me feel and the fact it's named 'Foxes'. I could say that all day, Foxes, but I won't because I might get sectioned. The last track I'll leave for you, this yellow vinyl baby sells itself. From the fingers and brain nodules of one Mr. Brad Rose, those who know will tell you who he is if you don't already know!!

There’s something almost religious about the newest Charlatan
LP, its narrative arc swinging from light to dark and back again.
From the opening chords of “Lime Beauty’ we’re awash in
polarized-lens glinting twilight, fluorescent skies over the water.
“Trace Blue Outlines” is trancelike and reflective, with long
arpeggiated figures chasing each other skyward in a fugue.
Darkness creeps in around the edges of “Vodka Rocks,” with
almost post-rock moodiness bringing the side to a close.

"Traces" opens the B-side and is a breakout track. With dark
new-wave synth textures and warped dissonance, it has almost
an Altar Eagle vibe, but things get darker, deeper, and more
personal as multilayered melodic lines close in on the loping
drum track. This is the kind of song you don’t want to end, and
wonder if you can set lyrics to. After "Foxes" provides the
perfect interlude with classic Charlatan synth tones on a
masterfully layered canvas, closer “Swimming Pool Summer
Nights” is just as staggering. Its slow drum pattern echoes early
Cluster experiments as blissed-out synths and even birdlike
squawks pass through its celestial gates. As time goes on, it
yields into what could almost pass for some kind of acceptance,
embracing the darkness that came before it.

More than any before it, this is an extremely emotional
Charlatan record―majestic, reflective, yearning for something
like transcendence. Even though it’s richly layered, it’s not
gauzy. There is nothing dreamy or half-remembered about
these pieces. They are sharp, fresh as wounds. This record
puts Charlatan on a seriously high plane for anyone exploring
these tones, textures, or emotions.

Mastered by John. P. Twells at Seventh Door with original cover
illustration by Caroline Teagle. Cut to vinyl at D+M Berlin.