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Reviews

Eleon — Daithi
(Bandcamp Wayfarer Records no#, 2023, DL)

Eleon — Hidden Kingdom
(Bandcamp Wayfarer Records no#, 2024, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2024-03-24

Daithi Cover artHidden Kingdom Cover art

Eleon is the nom de plume of Texas based composer, electronic artist, and music producer Michael L. Rogers. While he has been creating music since as far  back as the 80s, it wasn’t until his 2018 debut release Dreams Beyond Terra that he went public with his work, an album which was co-produced by David Helpling. Since that time he has released a number of recordings, including Flight Lounge (2019), Cerulean (2020), Deep in a Forest (Trees Dance) (2021),  Crossover (2021), Cafe Chill (2021), Epoch (2022), Hidden in Time (2022), In the Dream Garden (2022), and Magnetica (2022). Most of those earlier albums were released on the Heart Dance label, but beginning in 2023 with Daithi and now Hidden Kingdom (2024), his music is being released on Wayfarer records, and it appears that a new version of Dreams Beyond Terra will be released this year (2024) as well. So what does Eleon’s music sound like? One look at the fantastical cover art on the two releases at hand should offer some clues, but it’s a mixture of ambient textures and cinematic themes informed by rich exotic grooves, and powerful dreamlike segues full of bright shimmering colors and shaded degrees of emotion, something he describes as chill-step groove, and of course that would apply to either of these latest albums, perhaps not as much to all those earlier recordings. Daithi (pronounced “daw-hē”) is 2023’s entry, thirteen cuts featuring a number of guests, including guitarist John Gregorius on five numbers, bassist Sean O’Bryan Smith on seven cuts, and David Helpling on one other.

Daithi opens with its title track, a gentle and expansive piece, introspective and atmospheric at first, slowly ushering in some synthetic percussion and glorious skyward piano melodics. Other notable tracks from Daithi include “Kingdom Above Clouds” with its glitchy percussive drive and abundant Eastern-flavored software-driven sounds; with “Heavenly Beings” the pace slows a bit and finds a gentle groove, while “Clear Skies Ahead,” with its heavenly background voices, offers a thoroughly immersive listening experience. While Hidden Kingdom doesn’t feature as much guest power (Gregorius features only on one track, guitarist Michelle Qureshi on one other, and award winning vocal artist Nacre is featured) it certainly doesn’t make it any less engaging than its predecessor — in fact it might well be all the better for it, with a single vision driving it forward. “Dawn’s Prelude” opens the set, and it’s a powerful immersive shimmer direct from outer space, with haunting melodies dreaming in the fog. The percussion throughout the album is still very synthetic, but nonetheless effective as it includes a lot of interesting and otherwise unidentifiable sounds. Other standouts include the fast paced and bouncy “Circle of the Seasons” that includes a lot of interesting diversions across its four minute duration. “Serenity” is the track that features both Gregorius and Nacre, a slow groover that stands tall among all the others. “Dreamcatcher” pushes deep into the forest of unknown, with heady synths opening up in the background while the piece meanders forward. Eleon’s work is comparable on many levels to German synthesist Robert Schroeder, though a bit more dreamy and atmospheric.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): David Helpling, John Gregorius, Sean O'Bryan Smith, Eleon (Michael L. Rogers)

More info
http://wayfarerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/daithi
http://wayfarerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hidden-kingdom

 

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