Whenever I would go to John Diliberto’s Echoes website or listen to his podcasts, I know something would click my ears on, very quickly. Since then, I’ve discovered alongside Jeff Grienke, Lumenette, and new ones from Craig Padilla, Kaleida, and one that took me by surprise is an artist named Dave Bessell.
Dave has made a name for himself by working with bands such as Coldplay, U2, Killing Joke, and Suede. He’s also one of the members of an electronic trio named Node with the producer known as Flood. And when it comes to the usage of sequencer-driven arrangements, Bessell is the right man for the job.
The mystery, the nightmare, the meditation, and the spacey loopholes, he adds it right in front of you with his latest album, Chromatic Lightning Cage. Yes, there are comparisons between the two maestros, Tangerine Dream and Vangelis. Which is true, but there are elements between Tomita, the Berlin trilogy of David Bowie, and Klaus Schulze.
The sounds behind ‘Forest Under the Sea’ adds this underwater texture with a huge search to find the lost treasure. There are elements of the score to the Sega Genesis game, World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck which brought to mind by listening to this track.
You feel as if you’re inside a trance, going through the motions by reflecting the past and present, loss memories of childhood, and the effects of clutter, dropping down like raindrops with string sections, radio static, and unearthed technology while ‘Darkening Air’ sets forth the Heroes-era of David Bowie’s Berlin trilogy as Bessell channels the composition ‘Sense of Doubt’ in a darkened ship that’s on the brink of collapse.
‘After Hours’ opens the album up with an arpeggiated introduction, using the same synthesizers that Steven Wilson had used on the title-track ‘The Harmony Codex’. I can imagine Dave used the Prophet-6 to create the ascending and descending melodies to lead listeners into the light with unexpected consequences.
Listening to ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ sent shivers down my spine. It almost took me back to the Ohr years of Tangerine Dream’s Zeit-era as Bessell, uses his guitar and pounding rituals to make the nightmares brought to life. We know something dangerous is about to happen as he opens the door to unveil something brutal, and very menacing to show our deepest fears.
‘Ariel’ is the calm after the first four tracks. This time, Dave lets us into a dark, cavernous cave filled with crystalized yet diamond structure in all of its beauty. He goes into Tomita’s territory, channeling Snowflakes are Dancing, adding in his own spin of ‘Arabesque no. 1’, but with a Schulze-like production coming in full swing.
But there’s something very tragic behind ‘Ariel.’ It has that feeling of going into the video game worlds of both BioShock and Dead Space, revealing the tragedies behind Rapture, USG Ishimura, and Titan Station (The Sprawl). It was once the true wonder that people can go and live their dreams, but once corruption and religious fury comes swinging in, you are asking for a huge amount of trouble, and the decline that hits you right in the face.
Bessell returns back into the cold, darker worlds once more with ‘Unheimlich’. I hear elements of Schulze’s Irrlicht, Terry Riley’s A Rainbow in Curved Air, and Bo Hansson’s insane spaghetti-western-like score to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Once the clouds ascend, the sequencers come flowing into full view before the spooky Goblin-like elements from the Tenebre sessions and John Carpenter’s vision, add enough classical strings flowing in on the ‘Nightshade’ to happen.
‘Moths’ is one of those tracks that hits you with alarming passageways. There’s something a bit Crimson-like when I was listening to this. It has that substantial beat when it comes to the ‘80s 8-bit sounds from the NES console. However, Dave adds in an electronic drum pattern with forest-like atmospheres near the end and, dare I say, a tribute to the Mellotron flute and string patterns that’ll come in very handy.
The final track ‘Elegy’ sounds like something straight out of James Cameron’s 1984 blockbuster hit, The Terminator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn. Dave channels the world of Brad Fiedel as he visions the danger Sarah Connor is in with the help of Reese, escaping from the danger of the murdering cyborg who’s in hot pursuit to kill her.
Chromatic Lighting Cage isn’t just an amazing album, but an exploration that seeks deeper into our souls, waiting to be heard in its entirety. It’s impossible to say why Bessell is very much a mad scientist to create something sublime, but you will be the judge to understand why he’s out of this world.
