Elly Roberts reviews
Enigma: A Posteriori
Distributed by
Liberty - EMI
- Released: September 2006
- Rating: 4/10
Michael Cretu’s quest for world domination
via his ambient new-age cosmic soundscapes began with vigour on 1990’s
Sadness part 1 and album MCMXC a.D., both chart toppers in the
UK.
Gathering sounds from cultures on every continent and from many different
eras, the Romanian studio wizard and German wife Sandra Lauer have been
pursuing their electro stylings for 16 years.
A Posteriori (Latin for ‘what comes after’) continues his
obsession with spacey atmospherics using his penchant transcendent template,
having successfully sold over 30 million records to date. For me, this isn’t
serious listening music, more like the type I would have used for a school
drama productions, filed under FX. It will no doubt find its way into some
film soundtrack in the future.
Opener Eppur Si Muove would, if remixed, make a cracking Euro dance hit,
as would Feel Me Heaven. After that we’re left with ambling drifters,
which seem to serve no purpose other than to send you into snooze mode –
perfect for de-stressing and relaxation.
A more interesting and sweeping Hello And Welcome, with the odd wiry
guitar or synth may be the lead-off single, though it’ll need editing from
its 5 minutes 8 seconds. Eventually we get to hear a hushed Cretu vocal on
Sitting On The Moon, which is a near as you get to a proper tune as
such.
Just when you thought he’d done his ‘turn’, back he pops up on heavily
reverebed cosmic closer Goodbye Milky Way.
Verdict – perfect for lunar missions.
The full list of tracks included are :
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
