About Me
Onnederlands goed!
(Jack Spijkerman, Radio 3, The Netherlands)
'Aware' is an album that is very difficult to review because of its diversity of styles. It covers a largely female vocal-led area of predominantly electronic music, having a wide range of styles from trance to celestial, with a very full sound, excellent rhythms and while occasionally more commercial than you might expect, it is uniquely hypnotic.
Apart from the excellent 'Biosphere' which contains additional performance and arrangements by Klaus Schulze and Jörg Schaaf, highlights include the opener, 'Chill,' a brooding track that simmers and glows, building up over a backdrop of synths, flying guitars & percussion and a great (female) vocal performance, 'Illusion,' a beautiful multi-tracked vocal piece that builds quite an atmosphere as it goes, a killer track called 'Paint the Moon' - a "big" anthemic production like Clannad meets OMD in 'Joan of Ark' mode, the infectious synth synth-led 'Can you hear me' and the sombre instrumental 'The Uncertainty Principle'. A must for collectors of electronic music with ambient, techno and world influences, but also a very good album its own right.
Compact Disc Services, United Kingdom
As you probably gather from the gear they use, Solipsist Paradise are not exactly bedroom enthusiasts; in fact they work from Gert van Santen's rather well-appointed studio in the Netherlands and between them have a wealth of musical experience, having been involved with the likes of Klaus Schulze, and various international concerts and events;
Gert was involved in a Tibetan project, Sandarach, featured on FM30. The evidence of their combined sonic exploits is apparent in their extremely slick debut CD 'Aware,' from which 'The Fool' is taken. 'The Fool' is one of SP's overtly commercial tunes and it primarily showcases the vocal talents of Jesso, whose quirky inflections and wide pitch range invoke comparisons with Björk. 'Aware' is precise and clean in terms of structure and production, and makes no bones about crossing styles and genres - a couble-edged sword in the sense that while demonstrating scope and versatility, it may be viewed by the cheque book holders in record company land as showing a lack of direction. Sod them though, it's good stuff.
Future Music, United Kingdom
