If my friend Bernard could see me! This brother of life who introduced me to the wonderful universe of music without borders would be proud to see the progress I make in my absolute discovery of music that flirts with the improbable while having this power of attraction that makes it so unique. But still, he is 10 years ahead of his time! These words are both for him and for Anantakara who album after album brings me into territories where the confusion of styles harmonizes to my great astonishment. Inspired by the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, AMOR MUNDI (Life As An Infinite Flow) is no exception. It’s a tough album with sharp twists in the 12 tracks that have this very intimate thread connecting them to each other. There are moments of pure madness, as there are moments of pure genius. These moments are more numerous, leading us little by little to the discovery of an album where even his music always transcends its logical borders a little more.

Acoustic notes plucked curtly initiate the rhythmic mess that grips our ears at the opening of Shimmering Times. The sequencer extends a Berlin School structure while the percussions aim at rock and the notes persist to play by winding up to beautiful fluty tunes. These first two fiery minutes are resolved in a disturbing atmospheric passage where the flute blows its loneliness in a final without agreements. A piano hammers the structure of Show Me Your Wonder with notes on a worn keyboard. The flow, like the harmony, sail in a sea of sounds in search of its musicality when a good and unexpected down-tempo ends up guiding it in an ambient Jazz texture. What the first listenings reveal is a general dissonance with notes that resonate in an arpeggio slaughterhouse. Like that acoustic six-string neck that Anantakara tortures in the opening of Chthonic Memories. Forgetting about these first seconds, our senses become obsessed with this short demonic melody which runs like a vampire fleeing mirrors. A brief moment which is lost in the ashes of the opening while the ambient airs begin to sparkle in a form of dance-music which evaporates in a flute and brings back to life this six-strings suffering of schizophrenia. This is how the 12 chapters of AMOR MUNDI (Life As An Infinite Flow) are built! Each title advances by dispossessing the previous moments to auction them for abstract art. These moments come back to haunt the title, which takes advantage of this theoretical confusion to implant bits of music on a structure that constantly loses its identity. Do we remember how started Sister Moon? However, we are talking about 5 minutes which constantly changes sonic skins with enchanting phrases that we want to hear again. This is the trap of this album!

Amo Ergo Sum is the kind of music where Sade would lay down lyrics. We have to wait for The Riddle of a Soul to have a first long homogeneous structure. And the result is a good track well sat on an evolutionary rhythm which reaches a point of frenzy dominated by acoustic instruments in a great post-rock style à la Picture Palace Music. If we like the genre, A Secret Might has some interesting attributes. But this is nothing compared to Riding The Flickering Crests that will make you hear of all colors. We are at the heart of this album that we rediscover from another ear since Amo Ergo Sum. The tribal drum pass in Riding The Flickering Crests simply saw off both calves. Creative, daring, and addicting! Deus Sive Natura brings us back to the rambling structures of the first titles of AMOR MUNDI (Life As An Infinite Flow). The title begins with a piano and a violin trying to seduce these harp riffs which are the masters of the musical disorders of the album. Dull pulses amplify an anti-music presence, going as far as to block an audio channel. And it’s with one ear that we follow the development of this title which offers particularly good passages that deserve a musical deepening. Mysterious and messy, The Matrix Time-Walk manages to trap us with its acoustic structure. I can’t help but glue Strata’s sonic disturbances to film music for the post-apocalyptic Western genre. Although just apocalyptic would suffice! The twists and turns in this title are as numerous as a female cat having kittens. And believe me, there are some really good parts in this Strata. Irresistible brings me closer to the atmospheres, more modernized here, of Bayou Moon. An album made by Tom Newman in the mid ’80s.

I don’t really know what my friend Philippe Wauman ate, but I would advise some musicians to eat it twice! No, AMOR MUNDI (Life As An Infinite Flow) is not for all ears. But creativity quickly resurfaces in the middle of this record that we learn to love with each new listening. There are awesome moments here and moments of tenderness unique to Anantakara. To discover and listen to it alone.

A nice review from Sylvain Lupari

https://www.synthsequences.com/post/anantakara-amor-mundi-life-as-an-infinite-flow-2020

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