Gnome & Spybey – The Seventh Seal (Album – Ant-Zen)
Genre/Influences: Experimental, Cinematographic, Minimal-Electro.
Format: Digital.
Background/Info: This work is the seventh studio album by the duo Tony D’Oporto (Gnome) – Mark Spybey (Dead Voices On Air, ex-Zoviet France) while it also is their first new work in seven years.
Content: The album features 6 songs, which bring us back to the familiar influences from this project. Cinematographic atmospheres have been mixed with delicate piano parts while other songs reveal a more Minimal-Electro approach, which has something vintage-like. The main change –or evolution, with previous works is the addition of ghost-like, half-spoken produced vocal lines.
+ + + : This album is without a shadow of a doubt my favorite work by Gnome & Spybey. It remains a mysterious trip covering different influences, but the global work sounds more accessible. It however remains an intimate work accentuated by great sonic atmospheres and brilliant Electronic treatments. The analogue-like sound effects on “Born To Fly” have something magic. More ‘classical’ cuts like “To Be The Sun In Flight” and “Long And Short” are more for cinematic lovers, but I especially like the global progression mixed with delicacy of both cuts.
– – – : Both last cuts are a little less convincing so the climax of the album appears right at the beginning.
Conclusion: This is an astonishing return for Gnome & Spybey; somewhere in between accessible Experimental music and visionary Ambient work.
Best songs: “Born To Fly”, “To Be The Sun In Flight”, “Long And Short”, “Cancel Your Tomorrow”.
Rate: 8.
Artist: www.facebook.com/gnomeandspybey
Label: www.ant-zen.com / www.facebook.com/antzen.official
About Gnome & Spybey
Gnome & Spybey is the duo of Tony D’Oporto and Mark Spybey. Between 2009 and 2014 the pair recorded six albums of experimental ambient music, working across England, Los Angeles, Texas, Toronto, New York City and Mexico City, with contributions from David Thrussell, Robert Rich, Tom Shear and Michael Morton. Spybey is also known for Dead Voices On Air and for earlier work with Zoviet France.
“The Seventh Seal” was released by Ant-Zen on 7 April 2021 as a digital album. Music is credited to Gnome and Spybey, words to Spybey, layout to Stefan Alt and mastering to Anatoly Grinberg. The six tracks are “Cancel Your Tomorrow”, “To Be The Sun In Flight”, “Long And Short”, “Born To Fly”, “Separated” and “Those Bitter Things”. The label describes it as a largely song-based album, a departure from the duo’s earlier work.
Ant-Zen collected the duo’s earlier recordings on the 2019 release reviewed here as Gnome & Spybey – Collective (Digital Album – Ant-Zen). D’Oporto also records alone, as on The Gnome – Stillness (Digital Album – Ant-zen).
Spybey’s parallel work with Anatoly Grinberg produced Anatoly Grinberg & Mark Spybey – Dust Forbids The Bird To Sing (Album – Ant-Zen) in 2020 and Anatoly Grinberg & Mark Spybey – The Failure Of Language (Album – Ant-Zen) in January 2021. The duo set out their working method in the November 2021 ‘Click Interview’ with Gnome & Spybey: ‘I Am Not A Slave To Technology’.
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