Vidna Obmana – Memories Compiled: Three Tapes (Album – Zoharum)
Genre/Influences: Cinematic, Experimental.
Format: Digital, 3CD.
Background/Info: Zoharum moves on releasing the back catalogue from the Belgian master of Ambient and Experimental music, Vidna Obmana. This work brings three ‘early’ albums together which were originally released on cassette. “Gathering In Frozen Beauty” (1989), “Near The Flogging Landscape” (1990) and “Refined On Gentle Cloud” (1991) have been compiled as three discs.
Content: Dirk Serries experimented with different genres during his Vidna Obmana years, but he now brings us back to evasive although ominous Ambient music. The tracks are progressively built up with little extra details. The 2nd and especially the 3rd disc became ultra-Cinematic-like which is accentuated by strings.
+ + + : It’s an opportunity to (re)discover rare and somewhat forgotten work from this artist who can look back at an impressive discography. But it’s also fascinating to realize this music was composed in the late 80s and early 90s. Back in time this music clearly had something visionary. The albums create a compact and complementary production which is released in an artistic digipak.
– – – : Some passages are a bit monotonous and after a while the work becomes a bit predictable. This is stuff for the heaviest fans.
Conclusion: The visionary side of Vidna Obmana is masterly exposed by this new re-release.
Best songs: “Into Gray Divides”, “For Ancient Crossed”, “Onto A Broken Path”.
Rate: 7.
Artist: www.dirkserries.com /
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063709950512
Label: www.zoharum.com / www.facebook.com/zoharum
About Vidna Obmana
Vidna Obmana was the ambient project of Belgian musician Dirk Serries, born in 1968. Serries used the name from 1984 until 2007, working across ambient, minimal and drone music, and released through labels including ND Records, Hypnos Recordings, Soleilmoon Recordings and Projekt Records.
The three cassette albums gathered on this set appeared as “Gathering In Frozen Beauty” in 1989, “Near The Flogging Landscape” in 1990 and “Refined On Gentle Clouds” in 1991. Zoharum issued the remastered three-disc edition on April 7, 2022 as part of its continuing Vidna Obmana reissue programme.
Serries has recorded with Steve Roach, Alio Die, Asmus Tietchens, Sam Rosenthal and Bass Communion, among others, and has worked under his own name since retiring the Vidna Obmana alias. Side-Line has since reported on his collaborative album “Island On The Moon” with saxophonist Trösta and on the archival Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana set “The Live Story”.
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