Few things brighten may day more than a notification from Lisa Bella Donna’s Bandcamp page that a new release is ready for listening pleasure! And Odyssey joins the ranks of the some of the Sonic Sorceress’ finest work.
Track by Track
The Mothership – We are lulled into Lisa’s future-retro synthwave universe as the mood is set with lush polyphonic strings, a positively face-melting lead that culminates in a dive-bombing pitch bend, and into the hypnotic rhythm that carries us through the tune, providing the canvas upon which Lisa commands her fleet of analog synths to do her bidding.
Be sure to watch Lisa performing this track on the Moog YouTube channel, it is always so fun to see Lisa in action, and appreciate the passion she brings to this performance:
Mystery Rituals – Lisa evokes a fugue-like tapestry around a pulsating, almost tribal rhythm, punctuated with powerful bass sounds, which do more to enhance the drama of the piece than to function as typical bass lines. Think power chords born from the mind of a dreaming android.
Adjacent Omens – An entertaining and adventurous piece, a climactic, epic, orchestral composition, book-ended by ambient, atonal sonic explorations. One of Lisa’s most daring pieces. I look forward to letting this one sink in more over time – there is a story being told here.
Hero, Hero – Clocking in at an epic 22:12, this is the kind of work that inventors of the genre (Wendy Carlos, Jean Michel Jarre, Tomita) would have been proud to call their own. An absolutely jaw-dropping composition of such magnitude and depth, this is the kind of piece that will make you want to turn off your phone, light some candles, put on your headphones, and let each and every brush stroke in this sonic canvas make your acquaintance over repeated listens.
The album is a daring mix of accessible, instantly relatable synth music, as well as some daring ambient, atonal and orchestral feats of sonic wizardry. What sets Lisa apart from many of her peers, in my opinion, is that she is truly a keyboardist as well as a synthesist. As such, she commands the feelings evoked by her music, the machines at her disposal are at her beck and call, and do not get in the way of the emotional weight of the music.
Links
Categories: Synth Music
