Dom F. Scab - Innerseed

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Dom F. Scab - Innerseed

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The CD is labelled "new age e-music", which is not wrong, if you take away the "new age". I am not sure of the intentions behind the release, but this is not more new age music than, say Andy Pickford.

The album starts very promosing with Inner, a sequencer driven piece with space chords and percussive effects, and some Korg-like electric guitar-ish sounds that would not be out of place on a mid-90s Tangerine Dream record. The sound is very clean and pure, although not over-perfect (which is good). The opening track is followed by Heart of the machine, which is made of spacy chords, short sequencer riffs and short themes, and although the piece has a great mood and atmosphere, I feel from an emotional viewpoint, it is not going anywere. Fear to void is slightly better, mainly because the development is goes through. It strikes me that this piece is a great mix of old-school Tangerine Dream and their more recent style. Sort of 1981 TD sequences and riffs performed with a 1998 TD sound. Then comes Isolated dreams, which has a few good moments, especially in the later part, but again I feel the track is slightly under-developed.

Distance sorrow is the ambient piece of the album, and although I don't think the chord progressions are overly original, the piece is calm and beautiful with warm textures, a subtle piano theme and nice bleeps and twirls. Another sequencer track follows, and one which is among the highlights of the album. Sigrid in the Opal City is a classic EM song with sequencers supported by a typical 909 drum section and space chords. Again I notice a 90s TD influence in the sounds; very Korg-ish. Dunadain leans slightly towards experimental EM, with a flute sound jumping up and down backed by a arpeggio rythm, space chords and effects. It could have been longer though, it clocks in at 2:15 and I would have loved to see the track develop more. Saving dreams is a nice, slow track with space chords and an arpeggio pattern supported by guitar themes and small synth themes. It has a nice development and a beautiful atmosphere. The electric guitar blends perfect with the electronic sounds. The final track is Seed, which again reminds me of 90s TD but this time in a negative way. A standard boring drum structure supports a song which never goes anywere and does not reflect the musical quality of the rest of the CD.

From a technical point of view, the CD is superb. The production is flawless, the sound is excellent and sounds are generally well made, although not overly original. What I find is lacking here are really creative ideas and emotional development of most the songs, or some surpising twists and turns. The album will probably appeal to fans of Tangerine Dreams 90s output more than it did to me, although I think this album is far superiour to anything TD made in the 90s.