Search - Frank Van Bogaert :: Nomads

Inspired music from one of Europe's major contemporary elect

ShriDurga | 04/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nomads is Belgian sound designer Frank Van Bogaert's sixth solo release, perhaps his best and certainly the one he worked on longest. Featuring twelve original compositions performed entirely by himself in his studio just outside Antwerp, Belgium, it took Bogaert nearly two years to finish these recordings. The careful attention to detail shows, as you might expect from a professional engineer.



While Bogaert started out in the 1980's as a keyboard player for a Belgian synthesizer band, most of his professional life has been spent behind the boards, recording, mixing, and mastering primarily for theater and television. After 10 years of recording for others, though, Bogaert decided to start recording for himself, resulting in his 1998 debut, Colors, a world beat album similar in style to Deep Forest and Enigma, a style that was most completely developed one year later with the release of Geographic. That 1999 album won three German Schwingungen awards for best album, best song and best artist in 2000.



Since then Bogaert has released four additional albums, though none sounding quite like those first two. Still focusing on the melodic, Bogaert dropped many of the ethnic influences and began recording more open, spacious music built around the synthesizer, music that has led some to compare him to a 21st century Vangelis or Jean Michel Jarre. His latest release, Nomads, bears out such comparisons. Many of the compositions are built around melodies played on the keyboard, backed with synthetic orchestras and often spiced with sound effects, like the rolling waves in Aquatopia, or the synthetic chorus in Mont Blanc. At times Bogaert might also remind you of Pink Floyd or the Alan Parsons Project. One song in particular, Drive, borrows and blends from these two icons of 70's synthesizer pop-rock.



60 minutes of inspired music from one of Europe's major contemporary electronic composers, Nomads is a collection of recordings worth a dedicated listen.

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