Detailed Reviews [Vinc2 - 2009 - "Exoplanete"]

Prolusion. VINC2 is a solo project by French musician Vincent Coudert, and "Exoplanete" was recorded in 2005 and 2006 when he was still at the tender age of 17. Some time later this production was picked up by French prog rock specialists, Musea Records, who issued the album on their ‘new age and electronic’ sub-label Dreaming in 2008.

Analysis. This album and the individual compositions mean a lot to writer and performer Coudert. He states himself on his homepage that the possibility of conveying his emotions, hopes and anxieties in musical form more or less saved his life, back when they were created and recorded. And there is a lot of emotion in these excursions, with dark timbres and textures a prevailing feature while lighter positive vibes are so to speak sidelined. It is easy to understand, and indeed to hear, that these creations are the product of what must have been a somewhat troubled mind back when they were made. There's not much music to find though. Ambient, slow moving soundscapes dominate the album from start to finish; slowly fluctuating sonic tapestries that rarely evolve in a progressive manner. Instead, a build up of moods and atmospheres seems to be the focus, and the majority of changes are to go from one ambient sonic build up to another; from one mood to the next. In other words, in terms of stylistic placement we're dealing with an album that for the most part can be categorized as a purebred new age venture. This is a creation that has compositional similarities to the denser part of the discographies of artists like Kitaro, Vangelis and Gandalf: floating musical moods suitable for the mind to drift away to - music for meditation, daydreaming and relaxation more than anything else. Coudert is fond of utilizing dark, brooding spacey textures and often contrasts these with the immediacy and clarity of glockenspiel. And at best this does indeed create some rather fascinating soundscapes with a nerve and tension that just might have a broader appeal than described above. There's also a beautiful glockenspiel and piano feature on the excursion called Gema, that is worth checking out. But overall, this isn't an album that will have a strong appeal for an audience interested in strictly progressive music.

Conclusion. "Exoplanete" is a dark-tinged ambient feature with slow-moving spacey textures as a key feature, with lighter parts mostly provided by glockenspiel and piano. Atmospheric soundscapes is the name of the game for this outing, and the style of music belongs in the new age category. Those who would like dark spacey music for daydreaming and meditation should be a key audience for this production, but purveyors of truly progressive music will not find much of interest on this venture.

OMB=Olav M Bjornsen: June 11, 2009
The Rating Room