Was it all just a dream? Did I just hear something that perked my eardrums well? The answer is yes. It has been two years since Fractal Sextet unleashed their sole self-titled debut album. I’ve mentioned in my review that same year in 2022, it was like a caged animal, ready to be unleashed to go on this cannibalistic blood-thirsty prime.
Now, as 2024 comes to an end, it is great to see not just this band unleash their next album with Sky Full Of Hope, but a welcoming return to the RareNoise label as they unleash more comfort and intensive chemistry that is like a growling beast, ready for more attacks that awaits us.
The last time we heard from RareNoise was 2022’s Transneptunian Planets, featuring the collaboration between J. Peter Schwalm and Stephan Thelen. They had unleashed so many powerful albums from bands such as; WorldService Project, Red Kite, Chat Noir, Sonar, O.R.k, and Reflections in Cosmos to name a few. For the label’s return home to Earth, it makes the trip worth exploring by giving Fractal Sextet, this massive jolt of electric shock that is needed.
Sky Full Of Hope is not just an incredible album, it is an enhancing vision of what the future has given us to explore. From the tribal opening atmospheres of ‘Uneven’ featuring the Gabay and Pupato, blending in some of the eerie dark, grey clouds that’s headed across the land with Anile’s ominous piano work, representing the Aladdin Sane-era of Mike Garson’s arrangements and Thelen’s e-Bow frippertronic textures, you know that the sextet have just got the ball rolling.
The title-track sees Thelen’s tremolo guitar and Durant’s arpeggiated chords, delving into the complete maddening world of someone going through a mental breakdown. Its almost this whirlpool of terror the duo are embarking on, not knowing when the ride will be over.
Fabio’s mini-moog improvisation, adds in that spooky flavor which goes back to the early Genesis years before walking back into the heavier rainfall that descends in the futuristic city at the end while ‘Flight of the Phoenix’ adds in more of the arrangements Thelen brings to the kitchen table.
And if you this is going to be a lovey-dovey track, think again. Those Crimson motif’s add in the flaming fire that sends shivers down your spine when Thelen tips his hat to the founder of the Crimson King. Anile creates a stark, darkened piano loop for a brief moment before it shifts gears, honoring Agitation Free’s 2nd album, playing in the style of ‘Haunted Island’.
Meanwhile the two different versions behind ‘Ladder to the Stars’ going in for 12 minutes and the bonus electronica version at 16, they have cards underneath their sleeve. I couldn’t tell which version I liked because both of them are pretty damn good. I have the original version I enjoyed much more as the band members imagine themselves as Mundy detectives, searching for more clues that Bowie’s character Nathan Adler from the Outside album left for them to honor his legacy and making sure that they don’t squash it to the ground.
Durant and Edwin’s boxing match between guitar and bass improv, creates more of the ambient voyages that is approaching our stratosphere in the solar system. Just as the pulsating synths come in, Durant’s segments are treated in like a falling into the abyss momentum that makes his instrument transform into the VCS3 synths, the ones that the Floyd, Brian Eno, Klaus Schulze, Tim Blake, and of course Tangerine Dream had used.
So, its quite the ride for Durant to go back and revisit to a time period where musicians had the courage to be who they were and do whatever they hell they want by throwing the rule book into the fire. ‘My Secret Place’ is where Jon channels the guitar techniques of Robin Trower according to his personal notes on the album.
It does sound like Trower that Durant channels. There are these watery effects he creates with some Bluesy orientations in which Gilmour had done in the latter-era of the Floyd between A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell, but Durant is own personal self, going on this spiritual journey to find his inner self.
‘Four Hands’ closes up the sky with an upbeat, electronica vibe. As Stephan, Fabio, and Jon handle in these intensive patterns, Colin goes from electric to Upright to electric. He’s going from rock, jazz, and rock once more for some laid-down vibes to a mellotronic swarm, floating across the Atlantic Ocean.
Edwin and Gabay blend well together to go in for the kill, hunting the prey in the hottest part of the jungle in the summertime with Pupato’s African tribe in hot pursuit. The collaboration between each of the six musicians that play on Sky Full Of Hope shows a lot of amazing chemistry that was implied during the entire time they were recording this album.
Each of them play a part in this, each of them are like a band of brothers, and each of them aren’t just musicians, but more like a family, lending each and every one of them, a helping hand, reaching towards the finish line. And we’ve got to experience the warm welcome, they truly deserve.
