Chi-A.D. - Arcadian Dream / Alpha Omega [A.D.Records 2020]

[Scandinasia]

 

Project : Chi-A.D.

Title : Arcadian Dream / Alpha Omega

Format : Singles

Label : A.D. Records

Genre : Goa Trance, Morning Full-On

Release date : 08/05/2020 (Arcadian Dream) ; 10/09/2020 (Alpha Omega)

 

Human beings dream of landscapes : open fields, mountain ranges, unobstructed horizons giving way to our true nature. For countless millenia, mankind has lived in nature, until it crumbled under the very weight of responsibilities. Deprived of air and space and silence, we have forgotten that we mourn for new worlds devoid of technology. But burried deep within, the arcadian dream lives on.

A few years ago, the sorely missed SF writer Terry Pratched came up with a series of books in which he imagined that mankind finds a way to escape to an infinity of parallel and unpopulated versions of planet Earth. Migrating to unsoiled versions of Asia and America, the settlers soon abandonned their former lifestyles to enjoy complete freedom in a seemingly unending space. What if it was given to us to get access to new lands and forget the shackles of time present ? It is hard to conceptualize such as answer, but it is not entirely impossible that this would be the kind of music that would play in my mind at such occurence.

Chi-A.D. is Hannah Mai Young, formerly Dave Young, a veteran Goa trance champion who has left an indelible impression of the genre as one of its foremost and more audacious project. We haven't had news for about 12 years, since the release of Eyes of Gaia back in 2008. Alongside most 90's era projects, Chi-A.D. was at that time aiming at adapting their musical signature to the evolution of both the technology and the scene, which proves to be very challenging to every oldschool projects. Being a good oldschool project does not guarantee that you will be good at newschool, and vice versa, and indeed, Eyes of Gaia has been described as generally disappointing and "lacking something", even though Chi-A.D. has, contrary to countless oldschool Goa projects, stayed loyal to the original Goa sound, which is something to be saluted for. Nonetheless, let us point out that the scene has been a bit severe, and that it was a well-crafted album overall.

More recently, they have started released fresh new singles under the newly created A.D. label. So, how does Chi-A.D. fare in 2021 ?

 

 

Arcadian Dream is a surprising track in the sense that it is clearly Neo Goa, but not in the way we are used to, as it does not emulate the usual patterns. It is a very lovely, enthousiastic song full of high-octane, uplifting vibrations. It is made of uncompromisingly positive energy  and blasting radiance, but is still imbued with typical Goa melodies. There is a good balance between the feeling of mystery and that of happiness, between creativity and tradition. Arcadian Dream is technically impeccable and makes you want to dance. Also, the intro is epic.

Besides the quality, what makes me like it is that it somehow tries to re-create newschool on a completely new basis, borrowing from Hard Trance and Full-On to foster a sort of cinematographic feeling, which hints at new possibilities of making modern-day Goa trance. It is a solid good track, and Chi-A.D. is onto something with this. It displays good amounts of energy and creativity, making it a succesful experiment. In my humble opinion, this style is a good beginning for promising new releases. It may however needs some more depth, some more silence to aquire a more unique feeling that would make it unforgettable.

I do not grade tracks anymore, so i would label this one as very nice and encouraging. We hope for a bright future of Chi-A.D., and it's good that this project is still around.

I would however make a side remark : there is an orthographic discrepancy on the cover, which writes Archadian whith a H, which is little bit confusing. The label needs to be more careful with that kind of things, given than the very title writes Arcadian in another way.

 

 

Now, Alpha Omega is a single that can be described as a fun and carefree piece of Full-On. Like Arcadian Dream, it is well-made, even though some interesting acid lines are almost inaudible, noticeably around 04:50. These acid motives would have made the song more enjoyable. Anyway, Alpha Omega is way better than most of the pseudo-full-on that is being produced these days, even though i enjoyed it less than Arcadian Dream as it is too generic. The style, as well as the rhythm, is good, but it lacks subtlety, and yes, it also lacks "something". It would not make sense to compare this with ancient releases, but similar tracks in the same style are good terms of comparison.

This is Autobots by Marian Closca, released in 2015, one of the best full-on track of that year :

 

 

I cannot explain why, but when i hear this, i feel twinkles in my stomach. It sounds like adventure and is full of conviction and innocence. For some reason, even though Alpha Omega is pretty good, it doesn't speak to my stomach.

Yet another track, but this time it's some melodic Goa from Timewarp Records :

 

It is not as good as the one above, and i think it is technically inferior to Alpha Omega, but its spirit is somehow brighter, as it automically makes me smile.

 

As a conclusion, let us say that this series of singles are welcoming and refreshing surprises. They are rhythmical, energetic and creative and can be considered better than most modern-day progressive and full-on. When it comes to sructure, they are almost perfect, especially Arcadian Dream. A lot of full-on tracks are bland at times, and it's not the case here. On the other hand, Chi-A.D. seems to keep exploring for a new magical signature to make her newschool songs unique, and there seems to be a hint of that in Arcadian Dream, but not in Alpha Omega. Overall, i would say it is promising for the future.

Buy Arcadian Dream : https://bandcamp.chi-ad.com/track/arcadian-dream

Buy Alpha Omega : https://bandcamp.chi-ad.com/track/alpha-omega