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Press
Information
Groove
Unlimited is proud to present “Peregrination”, the debut-album by
the ambient composer, songwriter, sound designer and arranger
Cadenced Haven. This pride has also to do with the fact that
“Peregrination” is the very first album by a female artist on the
label, Laila Quraishi. “Peregrination” means journey.
Cadenced Haven has started this journey not long ago. It is yet to
learn and see more in future years to come. It’s a journey of hope,
desire, acrimony, love, positive attitude, nature, consciousness,
humanity and other related conceptual matters. It’s a journey which has
its destination built up by the power of will. There are many roads to
choose from, many people to meet on the way, but the most important
asset that holds the capability to remain at the end of the journey…..
is our mortality.
The music by Cadenced Haven does reflect distinctive thoughts of
various sorts. When she composes music, different kinds of observations
about certain things in life, various kinds of experiences build up
certain emotions to create an image of melody that hopes to reflect
sub-consciousness of the composer and the listeners as well. Every piece
of a musical note does bear individual personality. If combined together,
the whole output seems to reveal another new story. Started of as a
songwriter with an acoustic guitar, she has slowly moved into the realms
of electronic music. “Peregrination” was created with the aid of
two great artists. Susan Baird, a.k.a. Dreamaiden, made
the beautiful cover art for the album. And no-one less than our “own”
Gert Emmens helped her out musically. His great craftsmanship can be
heard on five of the nine tracks. Every track on “Peregrination“
is an element of a story as a whole. Each track symbolises different
stages and aspects of life, some are understandable but yet inexplicable
to some extent and carries certain meaning of existence, individuality,
personality, vision, thoughts, etc. Cadenced Haven’ music is
beautiful, uplifting and relaxing. A piece like “Devoted Loss”
opens with fine electronic sounds and the voice of her mother, after
Gert’s excellent sequences take over. The pieces with Gert, manage to
combine the individual styles of the two musicians: the melodically
sequencerwork and retrosounds of Gert and the gently atmospheres and
rhythms of Cadenced Haven. The best example of this is perhaps
the fantastic track “Atmosphere Of Amalgamation”. Cadenced
Haven’s solotracks, like “Path To Phenomenon”, “Virtual Reality”
and especially “The Silent Vision” have a soft, sometimes even
lounge-like, sound. And sometimes, like in “Catalysis”, the two
together also manage to rock” (well, of course in a certain way).
Cadenced Haven and Gert have created something very special on “Peregrination”.
Let’s hope this journey will last for a long time. And let us also hope
that in the future more female electronic artists manage to find their
way into the family of Groove Unlimited.
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Kristian Persson
The atmosphere that
Gert Emmens & Cadenced Haven has conjured up on ‘Peregrination’
is stunning. These two magicians knows how to make infectious EM with an
exiting atmosphere that keeps the interest and excitement up from the
1st track to the last. Rarely do I get to hear such extraordinary EM
like this!
The 1st track, ‘Devoted Loss’, introduces us with a woman singing
“aahs and ooohs” together with some catchy sequencing mixed with
perfectly balanced rhythms that keeps building with it’s infectious &
cinematic feel. It has a great re-play factor, and is definitely the
stand-out track on the entire CD, simply a masterpiece of it’s own! This
is Gert and Cadenced Haven at their very best!
The following track called ‘Confronting Conscience’ follows up
with a subtle and slow sequence that soon gets accompanied by a lush and
serene rhythmic beat that is full of magic. I like how it comes along
with the mystic sequencing in the background.
Coming next is ‘Atmosphere Of Amalgamation’. This one is perhaps
one of the more fast-paced sequencer tracks on the CD. It has a
distinctive and rapid synth approach and is sounding very much like a
typical Gert Emmens track, but some of the background synth
sounds has the flavor of ‘Cadenced Haven’ as well, and carries
the music away nicely! Perhaps just slightly repetitive, but great
sounding nevertheless!
As we get further into the world of ‘Peregrination’ we also get
more and more indulged by it, and ‘Reversion To The Unborn’ shows
just that. This track features a more varied style in EM, and is less
focused on sequencing and more onto drums and rhythmic patterns.
‘Path To Phenomenon’ starts out in a hypnotic manner and builds
on that with other nice vocal sounds and synth effects. After a while a
sharp edged sequence kicks in with a background Grand piano sound that
closes the track in a nice, almost classical way.
Further on, ‘Virtual Reality’ slowly emerge. Here we get to hear
long, melodic sequencing, almost space-music sounding. When listening to
this track, I quickly get reminded about the works of ‘Jonn Serrie’.
But this track offers a more versatile style than just your ordinary
space-music. It comes with swirling synth effects and other rhythmic
structures, and at times a futuristic sci-fi sounding sounds appears to
make things more interesting.
Next is ‘Catalysis’ and is yet another cracking sequencer track!
Excellent catchy melodic sequencing and flow with top notch rhythm is
what we will find here! This track and ‘Devoted Loss’ is among my
favorite tracks, and they do stand out from the rest quite a bit,
probably because of it’s melodic style and structure. Brilliant!
‘The Silent Visit’ (I like the name of this track a lot, very
innovative!) has influences of nature, as you can clearly hear the rain
pouring in the background. A very mystifying track with some haunting
moments and subtle sequencing. If you like Enigma or
‘Dreamaiden’ then this is for you. It certainly has the feel and
structure of a typical Enigma/Dreamaiden track. Anyway, this
track is not entirely a Enigma sounding track though, it
certainly has a lot more to offer the listener, and it’s obvious after
the 5 min mark and onwards. Another very good track with great harmony!
So, the conclusion is the track ‘Conclusion’. As said before in
my ‘Gert Emmens’- Nearest Faraway Place vol.3 review (in
which this track is featured), this track has a very laid back
atmosphere. It is rather cinematic and could easily be considered as a
‘End Title’ track from a film. Some nice but dark sequencing is
breathing in the background and closes the album perfectly!
I would highly recommend this album for fans of ‘Gert Emmens’
music in general, and for those who are seeking something new and
innovative when it comes to EM. Also, sequencer fans will have tons to
enjoy here as well! This is definitely a new EM masterpiece in my
collection, and I can't wait to hear more from these two very talented
artists. I can't do anything else but give this album a 5 star ranking.
So, 5 stars out of 5 from me! Another infectious EM peregrination for
sure! A Must buy!
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