Sylvian Carel - Look Over The Nile (1LP) (RSD25)

French composer Sylvain Carel started life digging on the classics like Dvorak and Holst, and then he logically developed into a Prog-head. Thrilling to the expansive sounds of Van Der Graaf Generator and King Crimson, he would delve deeper into kosmische Krauters like Amon Düül and Tangerine Dream.

His Strat-rocking 20s led him to studio work backing and writing for other performers and eventually, developing his own vision. With an early love of the ARP synthesizer, it was a natural move into soundtracks and evocative soundscapes. This would lead to a serious study of Musique Assistée par Ordinateur (Computer-Assisted Music), and Carel building his own studio to accommodate all his ideas. Carel also filled his head with the sounds of the globe, traveling to Africa, India, and the Middle East, and all these influences spilled out on his first solo LP from 1982, tellingly titled Look Over the Nile. Like most sought-after private presses, the album displays a deceptively simple cover, masking a rich, even mystical tapestry of sonics that transcend time, place or waves (new? olde? the sea's?). Carel continues to create symphonic ambient works to this day, but Look Over the Nile might be his finest daze.