Mr. Franz Kirmann, the interrupted part of the excellent Piano Interrupted project returns to solo mode with Meridians—a cinematic, retro-dripping, dream-inducing sonic cocktail full of crepuscular frequencies.
If you are looking for something innovative or hectic, then keep looking, this is not the album for you. However, if you are looking for a good combination of simplicity, emotional openness and subtle sophistication that flows in gentle weaves of electronica, then look no further. Mr. Franz Kirmann, the interrupted part of the excellent Piano Interrupted project returns to solo mode with Meridians—a cinematic, retro-dripping, dream-inducing sonic cocktail full of crepuscular frequencies. I admit, I’m not that familiar with Kirmann’s previous solo work, I’m a lot more familiar with what he does in Piano Interrupted—one of my favorite groups at the moment—so I know he has some skills. Does Meridians remind me of his work in Piano Interrupted? Not at all.
In Meridians, in addition to ’70s/’80s retro scents, one can also hear a bit of Tycho, Boards of Canada, Schnauss, and interestingly even a bit of Moby and Sigur Rós in the epic, almost eleven minutes long post-rock-infused “They drove all night only to find themselves back where they started” (its first part mainly reminds me of Moby’s beautiful “God Moving Over the Face of the Waters”). With all that being said, Kirmann is certainly not a copycat. These days it’s not easy to create an electronica album that doesn’t sound like something else out there, especially a ’70s/’80s retro-infused electronica album, but Kirmann managed to do that. He has his own sound and style, and you can hear he poured his heart into every tune.
The synth layers glow and perform beautiful, classic maneuvers, the beats are delicate and restrained, and overall there’s a lot of nuance in every tune. Meridians might not blow your mind, but will provide you some lovely, heartwarming moments, and will definitely intensify any car cruising during the crepuscular hours. A very personal album by the London-based French producer.
Meridians is available on Denovali.
