Synaesthesia - Desideratum (1995)

Synaesthesia is yet another project from Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber (Delerium, Intermix, Front Line Assembly) for which to further explore their ambient ideas. Lush strings and tribal chants both add to the flavouring of the overall sound. Due to contractual entanglements Leeb and Fulber were not originally able to admit they were behind the music. The first two albums list them as producers and credit the music to one R. Deckard, alluding to the main character from Blade Runner. By their third album Leeb was credited with the music. Fulber, who had recently left to pursue solo projects, was credited with programming.
(Discogs.com)

Desideratum is a tough listen for even the biggest ambient fans.

Disc one starts out with an awesome light techno/electronica song. It's very uplifting, fast, and the best track on this album. The disc then proceeds to much slower, ambient songs. Track 3 is also pretty cool. It has more of a beat to it than the other tracks, and it's easy to groove to, although it is still pretty slow. The rest of the tracks are good, having some melody and rhythm, not being pure ambient, but they still retain slow feels, overall pretty good. I wish Synaesthesia would have kept to the beats of track one, as it carries this album, but they were probably going for a soft ambient feel rather than pumping techno.
Disc two is very, very dark. It is very slow, the complete definition of ambient music. Not much beats or rhythm to it, but it is very interesting to listen too. But, like Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2, you have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
(Amazon.com)


Tracklist:

CD1
01. Andromedia
02. Orion Nebulua
03. Consciousness
04. Umbra
05. Barred Spirals
06. DNA Barcode
07. Surface System

CD2
01. Dark Core
02. Subversion
03. Lumia
04. Hallucinations
05. Mosaic
06. Lifeless
07. Tubastrea Aurea

Click above CD1 track 1, 3, 6 and CD2 track 6 for album sampler.