This is the first collaborative project from the minds between Marillion’s own Steve Rothery and Tangerine Dream’s Thorsten Quaeschning called Bioscope. Launched back five years ago after several five-day trips to Berlin that Steve went to, and in his home studio. Yes, it took a little longer to bring Gentō to life, but this collaboration is a dish well served with a hot-steaming cup of plant-based coffee that is waiting to be served.
Listening to Gentō, you get a sense of being in the eye of the Krautrock genre that Steve and Thorsten endure and fall into the world of unbelievable results on the five compositions, tackling themes about man’s fascination with the moving image. And to be allowed to have Elbow drummer Alex Reeves on here, they know they’re on the right track.
The album Gentō is named after a Japanese term, “Magic Lantern”, a still-image projector. There are moments where you think the duo are creating this film score that is ready to be unleashed to the public with its sense of space, time, and ambient voyages hurling through the cosmos.
There are moments where Thorsten endures the spirit of the late, great founder Edgar Froese and Rothery creating this lustful and moody, atmospheric arrangement which is featured on the two-parter ‘Kinetoscope’ as it spirals through a joyful electronic drum beat which has this train-sped effect and brings to mind the latter Floyd-era and Klaus Schulze’s Body Love sessions.
Meanwhile, the opening three-part ‘Vanishing Point’ goes deep into the heart of the jungle in its boiling temperature to search for the missing link. And we ain’t talking about Indiana Jones ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about something straight out of The Qatsi trilogy from filmmaker Godfrey Reggio with its non-narrative documentary on the state of American civilisation.
It packs into this intensive vibe that the trio endure by creating the scenery, knowing how much they have to keep searching and searching until they reach their final destination with its loop holes, drum patterns, and layered guitar structures that is evidential on the composition. The meditated guidance is always floating into view with its psyched-out, hypnotic, and spacey atmospheres that’ll make you clear your mind.
The three-part epic ‘Bioscope’ speaks for itself, reaching numerous locations and keeping us on the edge of our seat, wanting more to see what Rothery and Quaeschning has in store in the years, months, and weeks. Because the collaboration has only just begun.
