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"With a "Satellites" very melancholic and often poignant, Silent Skies delivers an opus full of delicacy and atmosphere."
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4/5
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One minute was enough for Vikram Shankar to seduce Tom Englund, the singer of the Swedish progressive metal band Evergrey. American pianist and composer Vikram Shankar, who has just graduated from Oberlin College as a film music composer, is used to put piano arrangements of rock music on YouTube and, in May 2017, he posts a short video of Evergrey's 'Distance'. Tom Englund stumbles upon it, appreciates it and contacts Shankar, suggesting that he arrange the entire piece. Shankar took up the challenge and an exchange took place between the two men, which led to the idea of a collaboration. Three years later, the duo who chose the name of Silent Skies offers us their first album, "Satellites".
The fact that the singer of Evergrey is involved in the project, and that since their meeting Vikram Shankar multiplies his participations in metal bands (Redemption, Threads of Fate...), should not lead to confusion: there is no question of metal here. You only have to listen to the cover version of 'Distance' with which the story began: the guitar riffs and drums of the original have disappeared, replaced by an expressive piano. The tempo, although slow in the Evergrey version, has been slowed down again and the key lowered by a few semitones, erasing any trace of aggression and leaving only a deep sense of sadness and sweetness. If lovers of big sound will be disappointed, those who prefer delicacy will be delighted.
Another equally successful cover, the rereading of 'Here Comes the Rain Again' by Eurythmics. If the melody remains faithful to the original, Englund and Shankar deliver us a very purified and very romantic version which remains in the intimate and melancholic tone of the album. Because melancholy and intimacy characterize this disc: the tracks are played on a mostly slow tempo, in bittersweet tones. Tom Englund's vocals, all restrained and nuanced, is often poignant, and Vikram Shankar's fluid piano unrolls its delicate crystalline notes, sharing its omnipresence only with timid percussion and the equally discreet features of a cello. Between rain-swept autumn landscapes, the fury of a raging ocean, a funeral procession to the rhythm of the death knell, the cinematic evocations provoked by this music are not lacking.
Atmospheric rock is a genre so marked out that it is often difficult to avoid the trap of boredom that it tends to let to the listeners. Thanks to his meticulous and melodious compositions and the flawless interpretation of his duo, Silent Skies perfectly manages to avoid this trap and gives us a superb object to put in the same category as Kristoffer Gildenlöw's "Homebound". - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Horizons (08:03) 02. Endless (04:51) 03. Dreams (04:54) 04. Us (06:46) 05. Solitude (06:11) 06. Oceans (04:17) 07. Here Comes The Rain Again (05:42) 08. Walls (04:50) 09. Distance (06:27) 10. 1999 (03:36)
LINEUP:
Tom S. Englund: Chant Vikram Shankar: Piano Raphael Weinroth: Invité / Violoncelle
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READERS
5/5 (1 view(s))
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STAFF:
4.3/5 (3 view(s))
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