ÆTHERHALLEN

1. The Vapor Bath 05:44

2. White Temples 10:26

3. Purple Skies 16:08


for tenor saxophone & effects units


released June 13, 2019


Review:

"When I think of Julius Gabriel, the words “psychedelic saxophonist” inevitably come to mind. He transposes his instrument through effects, which is why the sound has both a drone-like and dreamy, oneiric quality. He starts with delicate, slender phrases, only to enter the drone path, with his tenor sax already sounding dark and gloomy. The title, ÆTHERHALLEN, brings to mind associations with Bertucci’s previous – and latest – records, the ‘-hallen’ referring both to resounding, dispersing qualities as well as halls, spaces. The German musician plays with the ether, with the resonance, but he creates both using distortions and effects added to the instrument. We have reverb here too: an artificial one serving an entirely different purpose. The music gradually gets denser, which comes across brilliantly on “Purple Skies”, when the atmosphere becomes more and more imposing, and the music becomes looped with saxophone phrases in the foreground. The dark, trance-like “White Temples”, on the other hand, draw you into an abyss, a sonic black hole generated by the instrument that stretches without end in sight. Gabriel presents a psych take at the saxophone. This is a narcotic, musical vision, an acid sonic world full of diversified sound qualities produced by the instrument. At the same time, there is a lot of space here, which the musician really takes for his own, creating a dense sonic tissue with a minimalist, yet absorbing dramatism. While Bertucci’s album was dominated by lightness, here we are faced with an invisible burden that eludes words, a genuine force lurking beneath the surface." http://noweidzieodmorza.com/