L. Gaab: Morphosis L. Gaab: Morphosis (Morphosis - 2000) L. Gaab steers somewhat away from the sweetly metamorphic-symphonic sounds of his previous release (Resurrections, as seen in last month's Overviews)... with Morphosis, he plunges into a darker world of chasmic spaces and dangerous beauty, bringing some of his elastic orchestral movements with him. Nine tracks equal 62 minutes of amorphousness. Chiming spaciousness rings over a hazily skewed toneshift as Morphosis hovers in a drone zone between. Amid a lightly churning fog, faint pulsations emit from Relaxed Ambiguities' phantom string and woodwind section, to be joined by bamboo-like clatter. The thin organ-like voice of No Language speaks in wispy, wistful synthstreamers, layered with higher and lower chords, some ominously brooding. Atonal swells, rippling chaos and randomized drumhits add turbulence to the landlocked, occasionally shimmering synthclouds of Takeoffs and Landings. Echoes of some forgotten baroque era seem to be heard in the opening ebb and flow of Multiplication (4:22), though hyperactive electronic squidgies soon invade, sputtering in computerized contortions over darkening drifts. Disc-closer Neutral Map (10:58) floats in on dreamier synth sweeps to levitate into more-active territories; comparatively perky tones dance awhile before aurora-like cascades overtake. While L. Gaab's previous disc (Resurrections) would be generally more ear-friendly to the "normal" listener, Morphosis forges a cooler, less-inviting world for the more adventurous sonic traveler... his fluid synth-symphonics are this time subdued by a sense of melancholia, and exist within an oblique world where nothing is quite clear. An 8.3 for these murky explorations. This review posted December 30, 2000 AmbiEntrance © 2000-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).