Having enjoyed his net release "Slow", on Phantom Channel, I was curious to return back in time and discover this previous release.
And "Songs" is far from being a disappointment, Savvas Metaxas, based in Thessaloniki, Greece gave here too a strong impression, assembling layers and layers of sounds from various sources ( electric and acoustic guitars, synthesizers, field recordings, loops, electric piano, an old tape recorder, melodica, and samples) merging all of these to achieve mineral and ground textures, reaching a rare coherency.
Giving "Songs" as album name when you are in the experimental ambient electronic field is something like a declaration of intention and indeed there is a search for depth and nuance, not just the development of atmospheres and of conceptual soundscapes.
"I song' is relatively austere and built around a conversation between close and distant guitar sounding both highly processed and progressively drowned into a whirl of almost chaotic scintillating waves. It's the guitar on "D Song" which finally gives soul to the track before we enter slowly a news space of sound confusion like a meteor shower before returning to the quiet of the night. "R song" is another pleasant achievement with a repeated pattern of bell sounds while slowly grows in the background infuriating stridulant waves of sound.
With "K Song" we are directly inside the steelworks, only to find a clearing later, a shelter where distant sounds sources merge into a crossroads of streams as we slowly return back to the initial core until a last 30 seconds of unexpected redemption.
Processed sounds from waves on the seashore and maybe rain on "F song", like the ghosts of a legendary storm coming to haunt our nights. Much more exuberant, organic and naturally blooming, "V Song" shows a more positive and solar dimension to the works of Inverz and constitutes for me the highlight of this album. More obtuse and less seductive are the two last tracks.
"Songs" is an interesting album showing a certain know-how, which works well as background music one busy day but which lacks of a capacity to fully transcend the instant, except on the beautiful "V Song".
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