Alexis Georgopoulos (ex-Tussle), who is one third of The Alps (released by Type and Root Strata), and half of Q&A (on DFA), has finished his second album as ARP. Recorded as Alexis Georgopoulos (the man behind the music of Arp), relocated from San Francisco to New York, "The Soft Wave" is expansive in scope, unfolding like a collection of short stories or filmic vignettes, each piece building upon the other. "The Soft Wave" incorporates guitars, piano, flute, & Ebows to create a dense brocade of sound. Georgopoulos even steps up to the mic for the gorgeous centerpiece "From A Balcony Overlooking The Sea", calling to mind classic JOHN CALE & BRIAN ENO. Though Georgopoulos still has a knack for creating environments in which you want to recline, hammock-style, he's also peppered "The Soft Wave" with soft blasts of blissed-out fuzz. Recorded to 2-inch tape, it's warm glow & blown–out formalism will undoubtedly appeal to a broad, sophisticated range of tastes.
Gorgeous sophomore solo album of contemporary kosmische from Arp aka Alexis Georgopoulos of The Alps and Expanding Head band fame. His previous helpings of heavenly transmissions on 'In Light' and in conjunction with Anthony Moore have gained cult status, loved by everyone from Uncut to Pitchfork for their melding of sunset emotions and pastoral bliss conducted with an exquisitely charming elegance. Amidst the reams of Kosmische operators around today, 'The Soft Wave' stands high above the clouds with exceptionally high production values and an instinctive feel for the lushest strains of synthesizer music, comparable to Cluster or Popol Vuh in scope and deploying an impressive array of Moog Voyager, Juno 107, Space Echo Tape Delay, guitars, flute and all the apparatus required to create such an opulent, warm, and magical sound. Everything about this album is a tribute to the golden era of mid-late '70s German electronic sound, from the trickle of caramelised bass tones and arcing, expansive moods of the two part 'Pastoral Symphony', to the more pensive 'White Light', which keeps the experimental aesthetic alive with a balance of harsh distortion and fluid guitar lines, to the sublimely tempered euphoria of 'Alfa (Dusted)' and the tidal lap of keys stroking the milky way synths of 'Catch Wave'. The majestically refined 'High Life' could almost be an offcut from the classic 'Cluster & Eno' album and resistance to the misty eyed emotion of 'Summer Girl (Marble & Glass)' is pretty much futile. Fans of Oneohtrix Point Never, Belbury Poly, Emeralds or Etienne Jaumet need this in their life.
