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Real Music Corporate LogoVisionary new age music for nourishing and rejuvenating body, mind and spirit

Stellar Connection

Stellar Connection by Thierry David

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Stellar Connection - Thierry David

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The album is a wholly unexpected delight from one of the shining lights in new age music and showcases a side of Thierry David that I sure hope to hear more from in the future.” —Bill Binkelman, Wind and Wire

Creating an imaginary universe where ambient sounds merge with rhythmic patterns and harmonic sequences weave with pulsating melodies, David takes us on a journey through interstellar space in search of possible connections with unknown and mysterious elements.

#4 ON TOP 25 ESSENTIAL TITLES FOR 2012 by John Diliberto of Echoes Radio.

Nominated for “Best of 2012” by Zone Music Reporter (formerly New Age Reporter) in the Best Ambient category.

Music for:
Spa & Massage
Health, Healing & Reiki
Instrumentation:
electronic
space
piano
percussion
wave drum
synthesizer

Tracks

1. Portal Quest 2:31
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2. Plenty of Space 5:46
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3. A Long Crossing 5:35
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4. Surfing the Blue Orbit 7:34
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5. Magnetic Spiral 6:44
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6. Feeling a Stellar Pulse 4:02
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7. The Realm of Golden Helix 2:02
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8. A Familiar Blue Stranger 7:12
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9. Arturan Drifter 5:08
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10. Stellar Connection 4:30
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11. Breathing the Harmonic Mandala 3:55
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12. Galactic Bliss 3:24
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13. A Silent Voice Answers 4:27
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More Music By This Artist

Hypnosis by Thierry David
The Veil of Whispers by Thierry David
Zen World by Thierry David
Zen Pause by Thierry David

Press Acclaim

Bill Binkelman
Wind and Wire

The last thing that any long-time fan of the Real Music label would expect was for them to release a serious spacemusic recording — and I don't mean "la-di-da" flowery spacemusic, I mean spacemusic, (in the same vein as Meg Bowles and John Lyell). Maybe I'm wrong in that assumption, but I've reviewing music from Real Music for 17 years and I know I sure as hell was shocked the first time I listened to Thierry David's Stellar Connection. The opening track, "Portal Quest," kicks off the album with darkly tinted drones, swirling synths, and a palpable sense of forlorn loneliness. I did a double take and made sure the right CD had been in the jewel case. Yup, the CD was the right one. I settled in and played the album all the way through and thought, "Well, I'll be damned."  Stellar Connection is a spot-on soundtrack for a first-class cruising expedition past the limits of our solar system, out toward the Andromeda galaxy or the Crab nebula or even beyond.  Stellar work (pun intended) by David, indeed!
 
The French artist, whose previous releases on Real Music were either chill-out (Zen Pause), New Age/world beat (Zen World) or new age/world vocal (The Veil of Whispers), reveals an incredible talent for crafting ambient/spacemusic that drifts and cruises. Some tracks flow darkly, painting a sonic portrait of the desolate emptiness of space, tinted with a terrible sense of awe mixed with subtle, somber beauty. Other selections may infuse rhythms that suggest slow but purposeful cruising among the cosmos, perhaps planet hopping in different solar systems, or maybe surveying a distant world's surface. Track titles make it abundantly clear that David is purposefully training his musician's eye toward the distant stars. While some selections are melodic enough in a structured way that this disc will not alienate (no pun intended this time) his new age or chill-out fans, even songs that use echoed piano and warmer synth sounds still contain enough of an outer space atmospheric texture and feel that this album should find acceptance among an ambient fan base, provided they are not looking for dronefests devoid of any melodic or rhythmic content.
 
Make no mistake, though, some of the cuts on Stellar Connection are decidedly not new age (at least not by definition I would use). Besides the opening "Portal Quest," there is "Magnetic Spiral" which opens with layers of drones and pure textural sounds and eerie effects, before slowly evolving into a repeating series of pulses, tribal-esque rhythms, and a minor key echoed piano refrain, the latter of which evokes a deep loneliness and solitude. "Feeling a Stellar Pulse" blends alien-ish electronic textures with a repeating reverbed melodic pattern (again in a minor key) and more tribal percussion (this track reminded me of Robyn Miller's superb soundtrack for the computer game "Riven"). The short (2:00) "The Realm of the Golden helix" is pure, dark, deep spacedrift, with overlapping synth washes, drones, and vaguely metallic tones, as is the closing song, "A Silent Voice Answers," which ups the "creepy but cool" factor to a solid 11.
 
Other selections on the album include "Plenty of Space" (smooth layers of gently sighing keyboards blended with long, lonely peals of deeply echoed electric guitar), "A Long Crossing" (slow, metronomic rhythms, trumpet-like solos, and a forlorn sparse piano melody with a discernible sense of sadness, anchoring it all), "Surfing the Blue Orbit" (a relatively bubbly mixture of assorted bell and hang drum-like tones, shimmering textures, piano, and a rhythmic textures that are somewhere between mid and fast tempo), and "Galactic Bliss" (beginning as a warm space-drifting number and morphs into pleasantly chattering keyboards set against synth washes infused with some up-tempo chill-out flavors as the track progresses).
 
There are thirteen tracks on Stellar Connection (some not mentioned above) for the listener to delve into and this album will reward total immersion using headphones. The carefully nuanced background music and textural effects will emerge on each successive play. Thierry David's recordings on Real Music have revealed him to be a meticulous artist who knows the magic is in the details, and Stellar Connection is proof of that.  I consider the album near essential if you enjoy spacemusic that can really take you "out there" (provided you have the imagination for just such a trip). The album is a wholly unexpected delight from one of the shining lights in new age music and showcases a side of Thierry David that I sure hope to hear more from in the future.

Michael Foster
AmbientVisions

From the opening track called “Portal Quest” with its dark and brooding textures you know that you are leaving the confines of this galaxy to journey through the cosmos via the music on Thierry David's latest release called Stellar Connection. This is his fourth release for Real Music and this album offers us a mixture of ambient, space and some densely atmospheric pieces that are filled with piano and synths that give you the sensation of flight and of soaring through space. By the time that you reach track four which is called “Surfing the Blue Orbit” the music has morphed into something a little more rhythmic but not overly so. The piano is still the underlying foundation of the music but there are some synthesized versions of Bali bells which gives this song a unique character of its own. A few of the songs have hills and valleys within the compositions in which the song moves from a rhythmic beat to a pause where the beat momentarily disappears and you are left floating in space with an opportunity to briefly take notice of where you are. The beat returns and your journey resumes with new and interesting sounds to act as road signs along the way. The music manages to maintain a shadowy feel to it that completely compliments the idea of moving through the darkness of space in the vastness that is the universe. You never really feel that the darkness is a threatening thing but rather it feels like a dark night where you look up at the stars in wonder. There are many compositions among these thirteen tracks that would be perfect if used within a sci-fi movie or perhaps a TV show that deals with the strange and mysterious. Stellar Connection runs a little over 62 minutes and during this hour the songs keep you on course for the stars the entire time. Thierry David manages to always aim you towards even darker space with music that is slow-moving and filled with spaciousness without wandering meaninglessly. There are many deep passages in these compositions including the final track called “A Silent Voice Answers” which leaves the listener in the void without bringing them back home. The music leaves you pondering the infinite reaches of space and fades out while you remain floating until the music is gone. I can see this music as being something that would work well with inducing a serene state of mind or even with doing some mediation but it is a little dark for going to sleep by. Of course I've used Craig Padilla's Vostock to go to sleep by so perhaps you might find this to your liking as you drift off to sleep as well. I am partial to the ambient music that adorns the beginning of this album so some of my favorite tracks are “Plenty of Space,” “A Long Crossing.” and “Surfing the Blue Orbit” each of which seems to flow together almost as if they were a longer composition broken down into three tracks. I would classify these three tracks as the heart of this space voyage and which sets the mood for all that is to come. “Surfing the Blue Orbit” does begin to add the rhythms that will become more prominent through the rest of the album but it still fits in well with the first two songs. My other favorite track on this album is track six which is called “Feeling a Stellar Pulse” and as the name implies there is a pulse contained within this song. It sounds like a frame drum that punctuates this song with its beat but I think in reality it is called a Wavedrum. It is well done and if I didn't know any better I would swear that someone was playing a frame drum on this track. All in all this is an excellent album that would be good as a background for certain activities like reading, meditating and even sleeping too depending on the mood that you are trying to achieve as you fall asleep. Thierry David does indeed create the soundscape that he set out to when he called this album Stellar Connection. Thierry David has created an immersive environment in his compositions and he takes the listener on a sonic journey with his imaginative compositions that are both mysterious and enlightening. The music on Stellar Connection conveys wonder and awe and is filled with a dense undercurrent that acts as a foundation for the otherworldly journey that the listener has embarked on. This album does not disappoint and is something that I would recommend to the readers of the Ambient Visions website.

Kathy Parsons
MainlyPiano.com

Stellar Connection is French composer/instrumentalist Thierry David’s fourth release on the Real Music label. This fascinating album is a combination of melodic, ambient, and space music, and David describes his creation like this: “In this new album we travel through interstellar space looking for possible connections with unknown and mysterious elements. My wish is to allow the listener to plunge into a personal intimate atmosphere conducive to meditation, peace and serenity.” (Quoted from the liner notes.) In addition to composing and arranging the thirteen tracks, David performs on synthesizers, piano, percussion, wavedrum and programming; percussionist Steve Shehan and guitarist Claude Samard both appear on one track each. It seems that a lot of music designed for meditation and relaxation is overly optimistic and smooth, but Thierry David’s music is often edgy with a dark side, making it especially interesting to listen to with full attention rather than relegating it to the background. It is worth noting that David studied classical music as a young person, experimented with jazz and other music genres as a teen, graduated from a business school in Paris, attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston, has lived in a variety of locales all over the world, and has also worked in advertising - a wide variety of life experiences that contribute to David’s unique sound and style. Stellar Connection begins with “Portal Quest,” a dark and mysterious bit of space music that clearly demonstrates that this is not “fluff” music. “Plenty of Space” takes us deeper, adding rhythmic elements and ambient musical sounds that suggest weightlessness and effortless movement as we travel through open space. “A Long Crossing” is somewhat more melodic and a bit slower in tempo, giving us time to explore as we continue the journey. I really like “Feeling a Stellar Pulse,” which combines dark and cold space sounds with a very catchy rhythm and lively little melody. “A Familiar Blue Stranger” (love this title!) has an easy pace and a slightly Hawaiian flavor that is warm and inviting. “Arturan Drifter” resumes a darkly mysterious tone and the feeling of floating as we continue to explore the unknown. “Breathing the Harmonic Mandala” is what I would consider the most melodic of the pieces, utilizing a combination of space music, a gentle rhythm, and a simple but compelling melody line. “Galactic Bliss” is mostly ambient space music, but the tempo picks up in the middle and adds drum and percussion to the pulsating rhythm. “A Silent Voice Answers” (another great title!) is a somewhat ominous closing track that trails off at the end. Recommended!

John Diliberto
Echoes

It takes a lot of discipline for a skilled, classically trained keyboardist to put his technique on hold and instead, give in to the mood and atmosphere the music requires. On his latest album, Stellar Connection, any one of Thierry David’s musical lines would be simple to the point of boredom on its own. But when interlocked with other lines and cast over gently pulsing rhythms and undulating textures, the result is as vast as the imagery that guides this album. It’s a different kind of minimalism, one that isn’t cyclical or repetitive, but that uses simple melodic and rhythmic material to create expansive and sometimes opulent spacescapes. The French synthesist has been on the scene for over a quarter century, releasing music on his own K-Vox label in Europe before signing on with California’s Real Music. He used to be a “chops” player, whipping out post-Miami Vice, Jan Hammer-style keyboard orchestrations and world music amalgams. But on his latest album, he engages space age imagery without resorting to retro-space music clichés. Instead, he builds his sound out of inventive designs, dark textures and shimmering melodies. “Portal Quest” sets the scene with slowly arching sounds floating like gas clouds in space, gradually coalescing as a tribal rhythm echoes and tremulous guitar and keyboard do a slow motion ballet. David has been a world music explorer for years and you can hear that influence in his timbral palette. On “A Long Crossing,” a morphing duduk opens with a mournful wail before moving towards an elegant, time-stepping cycle of synthesizer and piano echoing each other. That duduk sound returns, hybridized into a yearning violin timbre on “Breathing the Harmonic Mandala.” Global percussion also works its way into David’s work, whether electronic or acoustic. “Surfing the Blue Orbit” is a seductive piece of percolating electronic rhythms, cast against echoes of Balinese gongs. He kicks the percussion into high gear with longtime associate and global percussion master Steve Shehan on “Feeling a Stellar Pulse.” When he hits these grooves, like the ritual groove of “Magnetic Spiral,” you can hear the influence of Robert Rich’s techno-tribal moods. Over the course of an hour, Thierry David carries you on a journey that sometimes dips into the luxurious Pink Floyd-in-a-lounge trance of “A Familiar Blue Stranger” or drops into the magnificent void of “A Silent Voice Answers” with growling harmonics worthy of Karlheinz Stockhausen or Steve Roach. Stellar Connection is a defining work that comes late in the career of a musician who balances accessibility and experimentation.

James McQuiston
NeuFutur Magazine

The opening track to Stellar Connection, “Portal Quest,” does a tremendous job in setting up the rest of the album. The haunting melodies and urban soundscapes that issue forth provide a foreboding sense of dread. David’s ability to speak directly to his listeners is why this disc gets off of the starting blocks with such momentum. “Plenty of Space” builds off of “Portal Quest,” and it is this six-minute track that fills in some of the open spaces that were left with the initial track. David’s strongest side to these early tracks is truly his ability to create a narrative with little more than instrumentation and atmosphere. The tracks here may all be in the five to seven minute range, but listeners will feel time slipping by. “A Long Crossing” is much more delicate in overall sound than other efforts on Stellar Connection, and is invaluable in showcasing a different side to David’s music. The inclusion of warmer elements to what had been a darker and introspective recording turn this into a must-listen. “Magnetic Spiral” is a track that adds a more traditional and even aboriginal flair to David’s toolbox, and provides further expansion to an album that is already wide open. Even with tracks on the latter end of things – “Breathing the Harmonic Mandala” and “Galactic Bliss,” to name two – David is still able to impact and astonish with his recordings. This represents a solid effort for listeners which to meditate and for those that what substantive music to devour fully. Stellar Connection is a title that matches its subject perfectly – all the wonder and vastness of space is contained in this hour of music. Top Tracks: “Plenty of Space,” “Surfing the Blue Orbit.” Rating: 8.4 out of 10 

Chris Spector
Midwest Record

I hate it when people think they have out grown their influences and try to wear other skins because of what other people will think. If you were ever a cat that thought space was the place, David is right there with you to re-launch that mindset. Like Tomita and Holst taking on the planets, David takes on the cosmos with some weightless, gravity defying ‘music’ loaded with ambient and ambience. Slip this in your headphones and tune out the rest of the world. You need to do it and this is the prescription to take.

Bette Timm

Ethereal music with a strong rhythmic foundation defines this unique recording by the internationally renowned Thierry David. Enshrouded with a sense of mystery and intrigue, Stellar Connection definitely takes you on a musical journey to the stars and back again. The trip is filled with gorgeous instrumentation, including wind, string and keyboard sounds and, on track 10, e-bow guitar. This is a top pick for stimulating the imagination and creativity.

John Diliberto
Echoes

"Not surprisingly, many of the selections were Echoes CDs of the Month including the number one and two picks,  Thierry David's expansive electronic spacescape, Stellar Connections and Marconi Union’s  ambient noir masterpiece,  Different Colors.  Honestly, either one of these albums could be number one by year’s end."

"The veteran French synthesis creates an electronic soundscape for an intergalactic journey that is brimming with melody and mood."

"...on his latest album, he engages space age imagery without resorting to retro-space music clichés.  Instead, he builds his sound out of inventive designs, dark textures and shimmering melodies..."

 ~ A Veteran French Synthesist Launches the Echoes April CD of the Month