Asura - Atmosphere

[Trance2MoveU]

Artist: Asura
Title: Atmosphere
Label: Altar Records
Date: April, 2017

1. Frontiers (Final Mix)
2. Always (LS Vintage Edit)
3. The Bhaktas - Pitre Purus (Asura Remix)
4. Eternal Sunshine (Ambient Mix)
5. Le Souffle Du Vent (Second Mix)
6. Deva Delay
7. Reze (Unreleased Version)
8. The Savers
9. Interlude Sky (Remix)

Doesn't add up.

Another titanic project in psychedelic ambient and downtempo music has seen a bit of roster turnover and is now the solo project of Charles Farewell.  Damn, that's a cool name.  Even with the departures however this project attempts to continue where the previous album Radio Universe left off.  Always leaning toward the dramatic and symphonic this album does so in places.  Opening with a very majestic remix of Frontiers it calls to mind a soundtrack for a major motion picture in the making.  Vast and lush. The uptempo Ambient Mix of Eternal Shunshine has resounding percussive booms that demand attention while Le Souffle Du Vent has a groovy swagger that I keep coming back to.  Reze is another uptempo effort that combines exotic vocals with worldly instruments and a funky groove.  Closing things out is a final uptempo track and it leaves me scratching my head and wondering when Asura became a progressive act.

As I mentioned this is more of an uptempo or even progressive trance album than a downtempo one.  This project has ventured down this road before, but I didn't think he would make an album like this.  I prefer the ambient side way more as I found his uptempo stuff decent, but fairly unremarkable.  The majority of this album doesn't contain the depth or gravitas I come to expect.  So while pretty good, I found my mind wandering while listening to it.  As a matter of fact I wouldn't hesitate to say it's the weakest Asura album to date.

Altar Bandcamp

Psyshop

[MrAnarchy]

Deva Delay is pretty neat