"Heart Of The Sun" is the 3rd album by French musician, Frank Ayers. This is an album, that, in my mind forms a trilogy, with the albums that preceded it, "Different Skies" and "Footnotes" all inspired by the music of the likes of Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Tangerine Dream.
The new album opens with the title track, a brilliant Jarresque sequencer forms the backbone of the track, supplemented with melodic sections and brass stabs, a track that sets the tone of the album. "Jupiter Lane" features beautiful and atmospheric strings, alongside some very nice percussive effects and strong melodies. This is a breathtaking piece of music, listen on headphones, it will take you to far off places. "Way Of Shen Dao" definitely is a nod in the direction of Jean Michel Jarre, the lead synth lines are superb and dominate the track, which again is very atmospheric. "Planck's Parabole" is an interesting track with it's percussive intro, again very strong lead synth lines and melodic parts, as well as superbly constructed sequencer parts. The melody a minute into the track is sublime, this track is more minimal than the previous tracks and builds up well and is very impressive. "Lost Spirit" is fantastic, a gentle melody and beautiful pad sounds, no more is needed.....perfect!
Next we have the first of 4 parts of a track called "Biogenesis", Strings, Pads and Choirs make this ooze beauty, as with other tracks on the album this really is a wonderful haunting atmospheric track, again listening on headphones is a must! "Biogenesis (Part 2)" has a more upbeat feel to it, trademark sequencer and synth stabs blend well to form another excellent track. "Biogenesis (Part 3)" takes the listener on to a more eerie and mysterious journey with it's synth sounds all of which are used to very good effect. The pad sounds are once again so beautiful and enticing, I love this, probably the standout track. "Biogenesis (Part 4)" which closes the album is a wall of sound, sequencers, synth leads, arps all blend perfectly, it has a harder edge I would say but is a fine way to end the album, I like the way how gradually towards the end it becomes more minimal.
It's an album that takes you on a galatic journey and shows Frank has real talent for this type of electronic music and if you are a big fan of Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis or Tangerine Dream, this album will definitely appeal to you.
9/10
The CD version of "Heart Of The Sun" is available
here
"Heart Of The Sun" as a Digital Download from Bandcamp
here
Check out Franks previous 2 albums as well.
"Footnotes" is available as a Digital Download from Bandcamp
here
"Different Skies" is available as a Digital Download and CD
here
You can enjoy listening to the tracks off all the albums as well via the links above!
