Vidna Obmana – The River Of Appearance (Album – Zoharum)
Genre/Influences: Cinematic, Ambient, Experimental.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: This album is a reissue to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Vidna Obmana’s “The River Of Appearance” originally released in 1996 by Projekt. Vidna Obmana was a project by Belgian musician Dirk Serries who released an impressive number of works till 2009 when he stopped Vidna Obmana to concentrate on other projects. Notice by the way the artist himself released a bonus cassette to this Zoharum production.
Content: “The River Of Appearance” remains a poignant and delicate Cinematic experience. The composition has something relaxing and dreamy. The composition gives you the feeling of moving in an atmosphere without gravity driven through piano sounds, flutes ao. Notice by the way the front cover and artwork is different from the original edit.
+ + + : It’s hard to say if this album is fully representative for the impressive work of the artist, but twenty five years later (twenty six in the meantime) it hasn’t lost its original magic. I like the abyssal sphere emerging from the work, which has something reposing and gentle.
– – – : The album is for sure a must have for the fans, but probably not the kind of release catching the attention of a wider audience. I see it more as an ode from Zoharum to this talented artist.
Conclusion: Vidna Obmana remains a fascinating experience even since Dirk serries abandoned his project.
Best songs: “Streamers Of Stillness”, “A Scenic Fall”.
Rate: 7.
Listen to “The River Of Appearance – ZOHARUM EDITION”:
Artist: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063709950512
Label: www.zoharum.com / www.facebook.com/zoharum
About Vidna Obmana
Vidna Obmana is the pseudonym of Belgian composer Dirk Serries, born in 1968. The name is Serbian for “optical illusion”. Working in ambient, minimal and drone music, Serries released through labels including ND Records, Hypnos Recordings, Soleilmoon Recordings and Projekt Records, and collaborated with Steve Roach, Asmus Tietchens and Bass Communion. Discogs dates the project from 1984 and lists it as officially retired in 2007, two years earlier than the 2009 date given above.
Discogs catalogues this reissue as Zoharum ZOHAR 239-2, a limited remastered CD released in Poland on 14 December 2021 and remastered by Serries himself. The eight tracks run from “The Angelic Appearance” to “The Ominous Dwelling”, with Serries credited for electronics, loops, rainsticks, percussion, ghatam, maracas, flutes, ocarina and harmonica.
Zoharum continued the archive work with the Twilight Of Perception Redux: Volume One set in 2025. Serries also revisited the Vidna Obmana catalogue with Steve Roach on the archival live collection “The Live Story” in 2025.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
