Playing this air harmonium seems like flying a spaceship, thus the name…
This is the full version of the ‘Planet Air’ on Osmose album.
Acoustic electric harmonium recorded live as Saint Julien du Sault in 1978, France. Just a pair of Schoeps microphones stereo placed in the crypt of the church and recorded on Revox A77 at high speed. The church has its own acoustic and each frequency takes a different time to resonate in the large space, creating ‘air loops’, delays, echoes, phasing, and all kinds of psycho-acoustic effects affecting Ariel … in trance…
This is the full length, remastered version from that original analog ¼” tape. We can faintly hear the church’s bell ringing, the hum of the harmonium’s air pump, we almost feel the air vibrating, and sometimes Ariel’s hesitations to ‘catch a ride’ on sound waves turning in the large space… can you hear them?
Listen loud to this immersive piece… really, there is no echo, reverb, flanger, phaser, delay or loops, just a man, ten fingers, a left foot, a church, a full moon night, and the magnificent harmonium to play this composition from 1976. mixed in the second part with the rendering of the song ‘Les Reves Etranges’ before coming back to ‘Planet Air’ melody.
At remastering, Ariel left some of the low rumble of the air pump (around 50 Hz) to leave the mystery of sound reflection happen later in the piece.
