Vidna Obmana
Memories Compiled : Three Tapes

This new trilogy of Vidna Obmana (Memories Compiled: Three Tapes) dedicated by Zoharum to Dirk Serries' electronic ambient project focuses this time on the beginnings of his career and his first legendary tapes from the period 1989-1991, presenting a selection of material. Compared to the later albums, these early works reveal a naive but valid approach in their spontaneity and are based on the use of analog synthesizers. The music is darker and more atmospheric compared to the more mature Vidna Obmana and evokes desolate landscapes. It feels like being enveloped in a countryside shrouded in thick and impenetrable fog. The minimal and enveloping settings, melancholic, slow, and circular, strongly recall certain glimpses of Northern Europe and Belgium. In the first album, Gathering In Frozen Beauty, a track stands out in its refinement like "Before Mutual Grace". The influence of Brian Eno is subtly visible, but everything is filtered through the unique sensitivity of Dirk Serries. The long "Upon Steels Heaven" seems to float in a milky and ethereal dimension. The tracks from Near The Flogging Landscape appear more meditative and, in some cases, not far from the best of new age. The synth melody of "Coaceled" is ecstatic and paradisiacal, while the concluding "Above The Mellow Earth" lets the mind wander in a parallel dimension. The music of the concluding Refined On Gentle Clouds is stylistically similar to contemporary works like Revealed By Composed Nature and Passage in Beauty, revealing the artistic direction undertaken by Dirk Serries. The 3 CDs are released in an elegant 8-panel digipack in a limited edition of 400 copies. Available on Bandcamp: https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/memories-compiled-three-tapes.