It was a bit of a shock for us fans when Sula Bassana (Dave Schmidt) announced he was leaving Electric Moon to concentrate on other projects. However, we knew that the music was inside his soul; he wouldn’t remain idle for long and would soon be strapping on the guitars and firing up the synthesisers to create new music and take us on further trips out there beyond infinity.
“Real Life” starts with droning sitar sounds that transport you to those heady days of 1968 when everything was colourful and patchouli oil filled the air. The vocals are very much in the vein of Saucerful-era Pink Floyd, which are part-whispered and sung at the same time. Even the drums have a slight Nick Mason tint, until the guitar really takes off and drags us into a big heavy riff which is quite majestic. This really is powerful stuff, both beautiful and uplifting but with an air of melancholy about it at the same time. Synths bubble up during the verses and the whole thing has big psychedelic vibe going on. It’s a massive opener with lots of wonderful rolling bass lines and dare I say it one of my favourite tracks ever by Dave.
“We Will Make It” starts more subdued, with a guitar chords that remind me of ’80s Sonic Youth. Again, Sula’s vocals are part whispered and the riffs are bigger and more powerful, verging slightly in to heavy metal territory. Its an exciting trajectory that kind of hurls you into the void while clutching on to Earth’s atmosphere with your fingernails. The track gets taken down to an almost level of stillness and here it hangs for a while before its slow gradual build up. You are almost holding your breath until the big riff comes in again. Pure magick. Mellotron sweeps in over the title track as the music has the vibe of the first two King Crimson albums. It has that early ’70s British progressive rock sound, but with an almost Gallic jazz vibe creeping in at points. It conjures up scenes of very sixties-looking women wandering around Paris and has a romantic air about it, and could have easily have been part of a soundtrack to a film at the time. “Wurmloch” has a darker feel to it as its synths gurgle and rumble to introduce the piece.Eventually a Harald Grosskopf-type of arpeggiator takes over before the drums kick in and we are in full space rock mode, with Mellotron choir voices hanging in the air behind a motorik beat that pushes the track ever forward. This is true out-there cosmic energy being generated in search of star clusters at the edge of the galaxy. We hurtle trough space, never to return to a place with gravity.
“Mellotraum” is the final track on the album and is based around some orchestral Mellotron chords that sound lush over a steady rock rhythm of drums, guitar and bass. I always love the sound of the ‘Tron and use it often myself, so any track that uses the instrument predominantly is automatically going to win me over and this six-minute instrumental doesn’t fail to deliver, giving us a grandiose ending to the album.The record is available on CD and limited edition coloured and black vinyl, all housed in a gatefold sleeve with a cover painting by Hervé Scott Flament. Nostagia is one of Sula’s strongest albums overall, with a great-sounding production and wonderful punchy tracks that just show you how diverse a musician Dave is. A fantastic start to 2023 and hopefully some live solo dates soon.
-Gary Parsons-
