Principles of Flight is a project created by Remy Maurin and Pierre Delort, it seems that Pierre is the sound designer and sound engineer, and Remy writes most of the classic melodies and themes. This debut album is my first contact with their music, and I must admit I'm already eager for more. This 20th release of Boom! Records is a concept album about sort of a fairytale, where we find "classic music like themes", a lot of experimentation and twisted sounds.
Artwork was created by Nicolas Delort and Syn, showing the Gloopies, the Harkies and the little kid Gabriel, the characters involved in this adventure in the search of health and peace. The CD itself shows a Gloopy. The front cover shows a Gloopy and Gabriel holding a balloon.
Mastering was made by Silicon Sound and the music sounds great. There's no mention about the track times or bpms.
This concept album tells us the story of the Gloopies and the Harkies, enchanted creatures made of sky and earth respectively. They've been fighting each other for a long time, but a strange disease arrived in their realm and they'll need some help from two human kids. The whole story is on the 8 pages booklet, but it is worth mentioning that the album has a uninterrupted flow just like the story. It may sound like a mixed CD, but in fact what we have here is 9 full length tracks with 7 small interludes between them, which create a perfect atmosphere for home listening.
The album starts with a classical theme (T1) that works perfectly as an intro to the first dance floor track, Disease in The Shadows (T2), which is the slower dance floor track in this release (134 bpm), but has pleasant bass lines, a smooth flow and also works as an intro to the next track.
A Heavy Responsibility (T3) is probably my favorite track. It's a much diversified track, with explicit influences from classic music, Drum'n'Bass and more. It evolves naturally and I'm sure it works on the dance floor, just have to figure out how to mix that Drum'n'Bass ending properly. If you like to unleash unpredictable music on the floor you should check this uncanny track, it has 147 bpm, sounding just at the right speed. Makes me feel like I’m into a movie.
Never Talk to Strangers (T5) is another favorite, with excellent atmospheres and flow, a medieval like chorus and the exact dosage of psy elements.
Then we got a sequence of 3 dance floor tracks with no interlude between them: The Escapee (T7), Strange Woods (T8) and Harky's Swarm (T9). These tracks are less melodic and rely on synth and weird noises to provide a psychedelic environment. Also the tracks present a diversified number of bass lines, particularly Harky's Swarm.
At this time, I think it's worth mentioning that some of the elements of the first tracks show up again in the following tracks, enhancing the consistency of this release through a overall feeling of interconnectivity, and this added to its continuous flow makes the CD awesome for home listening.
My next favorite track is Battle of The Great Oak (T13), a track that melts psychedelic elements and classical themes in that special way that makes me smile. But I think the end is too abrupt. And the last dance floor track is Shivering at the Sound (T15), a much slower track (138 bpm), but also very trippy. The last track is called The End (T16), and it's a small interlude. I haven't made many comments about the 9 interlude tracks, but I think they all fit their places and that their main role is to hold the album together, working as intro and outro, and giving that special atmosphere to the album for home listening.
After taking this ride I'm sure this is a successful debut album, with more than enough positive points, delivering what it takes to change my mood in a good way. My constructive criticism goes to the ending of some tracks, which I feel happen too fast, demanding more attention and care on the mixing. |
