"Color of Time"
The New Album By Tyresta & From Overseas
Although the year is almost over, From Overseas has good news for us once again. The fantastic album Kévin recorded with awakened souls is just a few days old, and here we go again: The next great collaboration popped out of the vinyl press on November 19th: "Color of Time" emerged in cooperation with Tyresta.
I could hardly believe my ears when Kévin Séry, aka From Overseas, contacted me and told me that he had another album ready and asked me if I would like to listen to it. Of course, I wanted to! And what should I say: When I decided to check it out, I definitely made the right decision.
Mellotron and violin bow
For Kévin, "Color of Time" is another important milestone. It is a long-distance ambient drone project that he recorded together with Nick Turner, also known as Tyresta, using guitars (including violin bow), synthesizers, mellotron and various effects.
The total of six songs (plus an exclusive 30-minute autumn session on the cassette version) deals with transience, loss and the influence that humans have on each other and the planet. So the album is all about time and comes at just the right moment.
The opener "Color of Time" builds up an all-encompassing tension, which the two artists have staged with the help of the mellotron and an initially delicate drone effect. After 3:03, the surface dissolves and reveals a multifaceted image: "Brand New Sky" glows in all the colours of the autumn sky and tells a story of uncertainty and hope.
A dreamlike winter landscape
"Radiance" goes one step further and rises majestically before my inner eye. Darkness spreads. Distorted sounds initially give a hint of melancholy, but this quickly dissipates.
"Cold Air" is my favourite piece on the record. The winter landscape that the two composers must have imagined when creating this song surrounds me after the first notes. Sounds that couldn't be any chillier pour out of my speakers and make me dream of winter - of eternal ice that never thaws and of a deserted earth that slowly recovers from our existence.
"Color of Time" is about the debris of human existence
An avalanche breaks loose, and the next song begins: "Avalanche" stretches the violin bow and continues the journey through this fabulous and sad story that works entirely without the need for any words.
"We Did This To Ourselves" laments and holds up the mirror we have hidden from for so long to us all. Then, finally, a glassy drone settles over the whole picture and slowly but surely drives the shards of our existence out into the winter sky. Our dance on the volcano is over.
If you listen to the cassette version like I did, you can enjoy a 30-minute set in addition to the official songs. Kévin and Nick recorded it for the second anniversary of 9128.live. So here is my advice for you: You'd better not miss it!
"Color of Time" was recorded in the summer of 2020. Stephan Mathieu did the vinyl and digital mastering at Studio Schwebung. James Bernhard mastered the Autumnal Session for 9128 Broadcast at Ambient Mountain House. The artwork is by Jason Akira Summa, and the layout and design by Zakè.
Mellotron & Guitar: Nick Turner OP-1 & Guitar: Kévin Séry
Read my interview with Kévin Séry here.
Check out my review of "Keep The Orange Sun" by From Overseas & awakened souls.