The Pyramidis Project - 2013 - Space and Emotion

(59:29; The Pyramidis Project)

Track list:
1. Earth Network 6:03
2. Binary Star 7:27
3. Sailing Away 8:38
4. Landing on Titan 6:47
5. Lost Music 3:02
6. Earth Over Moon 8:00
7. Glacier Experience 8:47
8. Island of Life 5:11
9. Visions 5:34

Line-up:
Loreno Buss - saxophone
Moni Francis - vocals
Horst Gloddek - mandolin
Mario Kuduz - synthesizers, guitars, drums


Austrian venture The Pyramidis Project is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Mario Buchinger, credited as Mario Kuduz on this album. Originally a sound studio, the project later also expanded into a project creating and releasing music, with one EP and two full length albums as well as a few singles covering the release history as of 2023. "Space and Emotion" is the first of the two studio albums credited to this venture, and was self released back in 2013.

It is an odd kind of album this one, as the music explored here really isn't here or there in terms of style and orientation. In some ways this is a novel album, in other ways it is a creation exploring styles and traditions in a very common manner, and the album comes across as very much a hit and miss experience on a few different levels.

On the weaker side of matters is an experimental ambient piece that doesn't really manage to intrigue with the ambient or the experimental details, and a singer/songwriter affair that has been given a pop/rock makeover but not having the strong and engaging details that makes it anything but anonymous. The latter probably a bit more in with the times back in 2013, but a decade later and the ravages of time haven't been overly gentle with this one.

Then we have a succession of songs that in some fork or other operate out from a synth pop foundation, with sparse or monotone rhythms and sparse slowly fluctuating or floating keyboard textures as the main elements, sometimes with vocals and sometimes instrumental affairs, and with perhaps a little bit of a progressive electronic undercurrent existing here at times too. Pleasant enough music, but there's nothing about the songs that makes them exceptional on any level. Synth pop enthusiasts with a taste for German synth pop will likely find these songs to be a bit more engaging of course, but for me at least there's nothing that really engages me as far as these songs are concerned.

There are some highlights here too however. 'Sailing Away' is a better developed and engaging venture into dream pop territories that comes with quite the charming moods and atmospheres, and on 'Glacier Experience' the synth pop foundation has been expanded with elements that perhaps have been borrowed from the likes of both Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. The result being a song with a livelier and also darker undercurrent, with a more fleshed out arrangement, all of which makes this song a lot more interesting.

My best bet as far as a key audience for this album is concerned is that those with a more passionate interest in German synth pop will be the most appreciative audience here. While some of the songs that explore more interesting landscapes in slightly different styles and orientations are more interesting, at least for me, the fact that synth pop is the dominating style here also determines the main audience for this production. Hence synth pop fans being the ones that should take notice of this one, and those with a taste for the German variety of that form in particular.

Olav M. Björnsen, February 2023

Links:
https://fm4.orf.at/soundpark/t/thepyramidisproject/