Artist: Johannes Schmoelling, Kurt Ader, Rob Waters & Andreas Merz
Trackliste:
Side A:
1. Distant Memories 04:47
2. Surface Of Illusions 05:38
3. Sphere 06:16
4. Stop And Go 03:58
Side B
1. Hydragate 05:40
2. Whispering Colors 04:37
3. Master Of Time 05:57
4.Inside Out 06:11
S.A.W. manage to deliver a mixture of ambient, electronica and cinematic sound collages with their second album "Hydragate". On the 10-track album, the quartet traverses different emotional energies from epic power to lightness. On "Surface Illusions" and "Hydragate" you can hear composed melody lines as you already knew them from Johannes Schmoelling from his time with Tangerine Dream. Also in "Whispering Colours" one recognizes the dexterity to program sequences that take the listener into a trance-like world of their own. On "Sphere" you discover a filigree sound design - no wonder, because band member Kurt Ader is not only a composer, but also a sound designer for various leading synthesizer manufacturers and programs sounds for well-known bands and artists such as e.g. B. Nightwish, Dream Theater or Michael Cretu. "Inside Out" impresses with the use of alienated ethnic sounds and on "Master Of Time" you can hear echoes of the electronic music of the 1970s as they meet the dark ambient sounds of the present time. Even very rhythmic titles are missing on the new S.A.W. album not, e.g. B. can be heard on "Distant Memories" and "Stop And Go". "Hydragate" was developed in various studios in Munich, Berlin, Mannheim and Hitzacker, using various samples, analogue drum machines, modular and digital synthesizers.
