A few days into the release of DIRK SERRIES’ INFINITE AND BEYOND and we’ve our first review. The album is currently available at ‘name your price’ over at Projekt’s Bandcamp.
PROGRESSIVE ROCK CENTRAL REVIEW :
Belgian composer and guitarist Dirk Serries (also known for work under the alias vidnaObmana) has released Infinite And Unbound, a digital-only album via Projekt.
Designed with electric guitar and a small set of effects, the release features five long-form, deeply mesmerizing ambient electronic pieces that move through deep ambient and drone. The tracks were created in real time, leaning into slow-evolving harmonies, hauntingly beautiful soundscapes, and a melancholic tone. Serries is often noted for balancing density and restraint. On Infinite And Unbound, that approach shows up in extended passages that hover between sound and silence, with layered washes designed for quiet, solitary listening.
OPUS REVIEW :
Expertly crafted drones that are just as ominous and foreboding as they are beautiful and entrancing.
Although he retired his vidnaObmana ambient project nearly two decades ago, Dirk Serries has continued releasing music, and no one could ever accuse him of resting on his laurels. He’s released over 30 titles in the last two years alone, ranging from solo works to collaborations with Rodrigo Amado, Benedict Taylor, Trösta, and his wife, Martina Verhoeven.
The title of Serries’ latest album, Infinite and Unbound, is quite apropos. Using nothing more than an electric guitar and some effects pedals, he creates vast soundscapes that drift, shimmer, and unfurl with seemingly no end in sight. As such, a song like “Ocean Became Light” can prove just as ominous and foreboding as it is beautiful and entrancing. Serries’ drone-work is often likened to Chihei Hatakeyama’s, though I find Serries more surreal and even alien in comparison to Hatakeyama’s naturalistic atmospheres, though no less sublime and ephemeral.
MOORS MAGAZINE REVIEW :
Een elektrische gitaar, pedalen en effecten, meer heeft de Belgische componist Dirk Serries niet nodig voor zijn opmekelijke ambient drones. Voor sommigen zal er in deze muziek wellicht te weinig gebeuren, maar daar ligt voor mij nu juist de aantrekkingskracht – ik kan me aan deze muziek volledig overgeven en me op de golven laten meedeinen. “Meer moet dat niet zijn”, zoals een van de Belgische topkoks regelmatig zegt.
Meer ga ik er hier ook niet over zeggen – gewoon gaan luisteren met open oren en proberen in de muur van geluid ook de details en de subtilitieten te herkennen, want als je door die muur heen luistert valt er bijzonder veel te genieten.
EXPOSE REVIEW :
Here we have two very different sides of Dirk Serries’ work (and there are other sides as well), and it’s a stunning revelation what can be done with a guitar a collection of effects, but Infinite and Unbound certainly illustrates the dreamy, floating side of his ambient work, where vivid sheets of shadows, light, and all shades of color mingle in free space in the far reaches of the infinite, layering over one another in a free exchange of sonic bliss, unbound by any structures or cadences. Each of the five long tracks here clocks in at ten minutes or more, the two parts of “Everything Is Known” together comb the far reaches of the universe for 26 minutes — though they are separated by the title track and “Ocean Became Light” — and the set is concluded with the stunning “Cleansed from Dust.” The mysterious atmospherics and slow-evolving melancholic washes breathe unique energies and warmth as each piece unfolds in real time, yet each of the pieces stands on its own without the far too common practice of crossfading; each piece glistens with its own introspective beauty and shades of dark, light, color, and shimmer. The title track, above all in particular, breathes in and out with its own special powers, meandering harmonics and stunning vistas. The soundtrack is here, all the listener needs to do is supply the imagination. At this point, Infinite and Unbound is available only as a digital download.
KRAUTNICK REVIEW :
ir mussten ja jetzt tatsächlich mal einige Momente ohne neue Musik des Antwerpener Gitarrenwunders Dirk Serries auskommen, dafür tritt er zum Jahreswechsel mit gleich zwei neuen Alben auf den Plan. Die Versuchsanordnung auf beiden Alben ist ähnlich: Der Mann allein mit einer nicht als solche erkennbaren E-Gitarre und Effektgeräten, Ambient und Drones aufgenommen in Echtzeit. „Infinite And Unbound“ ist ein exklusives Download-Album für Projekt Records, „Zonal Disturbances III“ ist das Filetstück der auf fünf Teile ausgelegten Reihe bei Zoharum Records und auch als CD erhältlich. Zum Abtauchen schön entspannend das erste, zusätzlich herausfordernd brummig das zweite Album.Serries kann ja alle Arten von Ambient, für „Infinite And Unbound“ verlegt er sich auf den herzerwärmend schönen. Fünf Tracks in 65 Minuten, die alle fließend ineinander übergehen und mit dieser technischen Betrachtung auch die Musik schon im Ansatz beschreiben: alles fließt. Dabei gar nicht so gemächlich, wie man erwarten würde: Serries variiert die Tonhöhen recht zügig, lässt sie umeinander schweben, aber nicht etwa rhythmisch, eher wie verliebte Geistwesen aus einer anderen Dimension, mythische fernöstliche unendlich lange Drachen etwa, die im pastellstrahlenden Licht einander vorsichtig umgarnen, bezirzen, auf sich aufmerksam machen wollen, und deren transzendente, transparente Körper kein sichtbares Ende haben, sondern einfach ausfaden, mit dem Hintergrund eins werden, also wahrhaftig unendlich und unbegrenzt sind.
Die Töne, also die Farben, die Serries verwendet, sind hell, strahlend, nicht blendend, und sie verbreiten eine positive Stimmung, nicht hymnisch-jubilierend, vielmehr umarmend. Er hält diese sonischen Bilder zudem frei von Störungen, Untiefen, Riffen, also Riffs, und konzentriert sich voll darauf, sich nicht zu konzentrieren, nämlich alles auszuschalten und die Emotionen aus sich herausfließen zu lassen. Passenderweise nennt Serries den dritten von fünf Tracks „Ocean Became Light“ und umschreibt damit den Sound sehr treffend. Eine Gitarre übrigens hört man hier nicht heraus, überhaupt könnte man sich nur schwer festlegen, mit welchen Mitteln Serrries diese Töne generierte, hätte man nicht bereits einige Ambient-Drone-Hörerfahrungen gemacht und eine entsprechende Ahnung. Serries fasst dieses Album als Teil seiner Reihe „Streams Of Consciousness“ auf.
IGLOO MAGAZINE REVIEW :
The Ambient DroneMeister carries on the torch undimmed, vidnaObmana long retired, 30+ titles the last two years alone solo and joint. A veteran’s touch is evident here, density offset with restraint in passages drifting in a liminal space between presence and absence, moving in nuanced light-shade interplay eponymously free of structural-dynamic convention. Reaching towards something beyond for a chronostatic half-hour, “Everything Is Known” is split to bookend title track and “Ocean Became Light,” the mesmerism ending in “Cleansed from Dust” to a slow arc and tilt of sonorities accruing semiotic synergy in Serries’ signature cadences. As sculpted drones swell and relent, tone colors bloom and fade, at once ominous and alluring, Infinite and Unbound stands as an exhibit—base metal turned to gold with Serries‘ sonic alchemy.
ANTENNA WEB REVIEW :
Com uma guitarra elétrica e alguns efeitos, o belga Dirk Serries (aclamado pelo trabalho sob o pseudónimo vidnaObmana) esculpe cinco faixas ambientais longas e reluzentes. Com mais de 40 anos de experimentação sonora, a mistura melancólica de ambient profundo e drone de Dirk em Infinite and Unbound abraça uma exploração cintilante e fluida de texturas e estados emocionais. Criadas em tempo real, as paisagens sonoras transcendentes e esotéricas proporcionam momentos de reflexão solitária. Elogiado pelo seu domínio de atmosferas expansivas – porém misteriosas –, Dirk canaliza um toque delicado num contínuo entre som e silêncio. Para este novo álbum exclusivo em formato digital pela Projekt, ele mergulha ainda mais em camadas meticulosamente construídas de melancolia; a percepção do ouvinte é envolvida por belas e intensas paisagens sonoras de momentos sónicos de pura harmonia. É uma linguagem musical que expressa emoção, contemplação e sutileza. Cinco composições longas, melancólicas e reflexivas, simplesmente flutuam, serenas e completas.
dirkserries.com 