Jordan Rudess & Steve Horelick – ‘Intersonic’ (Album Review)
Few people are pushing the keyboard’s boundaries as relentlessly as Jordan Rudess. Rudess’s willingness to experiment with all manner of digital gizmos from the Roli Seaboard to his own range of synth apps is well documented. On Intersonic, renowned synthesist and composer Steve Horelick joins Jordan Rudess for a largely improvised voyage past the boundaries of what was once thought impossible.
Creative sound design is now virtually limitless. Sounds can be manipulated to a once unthinkable degree in real time – and throughout Intersonic we hear two virtuosos apply incredible technique and bottomless imagination to the task of writing pieces as they go along. Intersonic is not a mere gear demonstration, but a collection of innovative improvisations that add up to a great album to turn to when you need a break from more intense tracks.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Intersonic is its combination of electronic and acoustic elements. There’s plenty of awe-inspiringly gorgeous piano work on this album – especially on melodic ballads like Quantum Fuzz, Unfolding, and Dreaming Aloud, as well as dynamically low-key breather Into Tranquillity. Elsewhere, Rudess and Horelick turn themselves into a two-man orchestra for opening duo Child Mind and Particles; cinematic soundscapes Submergence and Beyond Time; the almost overbearing Northern Lights; the sci-fi-soundtrack-worthy Swarm; and penultimate chiller Elias’s Lullaby.
Overall, Intersonic is notable as a real rarity, a synth-based album free of profligate self-indulgence and focused instead on providing a genuinely awesome listening experience.
LTK RATING: 90% (Essential Listening!)
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Intersonic drops November 14; pre-order it here!