Well, the whole idea about "Connected to the Dead" is based on a conceptual Story of a Group of People, which have come together to talk to the Dead! Trying to catch some voices on tape, maybe a face on video. Moving tables and glasses. Some of you surely have also had experiences like those.
I remembered my Aunt back in the early 1980´s. She started to get in contact with the Paranormal after her husband past away.
After an introduction she started to ask questions to the "People on the other Side". And while she was talking, she recorded everything on tape. So during the Session there was only my Aunt to be heard. But after the tape was rewound and played,some strange voices were to be heard in the gaps as my Aunt was silent.
Anyway, i remember all this as very scary! But also i found it to be a very interesting Theme to be converted into Music.
THE MUSIC:
I guess "Connected to the Dead" is the most experimental Album I´ve done so far. Usually I first compose all the music before I record it,but this time the progression of Composing and Recording/Producing almost became one thing! I simply changed the way I used to work.
And I´m convinced this will be heard in every single Note of this Album.
Besides my Guitar´s and Synth´s ,I also used some more or less unconventional Instruments. Also the human voice is very prominent in nearly every track,often arranged with Effects.
Like always, I did not care about musical restrictions. For example I tried to combine Heavy Metal with Meditation tunes ("On the other Side") and musical riffs turn into Spheric Soundscapes and back.
I had a lot of pleasure recording "Connected to the Dead", I hope you enjoy listening.
-Guido Meyer-
"The long awaited follow-up to "Lightyears" is here! Moreover a concept album,...a spooky piece with all sorts of nightmarish effects.Very emotional and heartfelt ,excellent introducing! This is some of the darkest and scariest music Guido has ever recorded.What´s interesting is the laid-back ,ambient nature of the music.Some of the best music I´ve heard from Guido.This music is so emotional and rich in melodic colors,it can hardly be described in words. It is quite obvious by now that Guido Meyer has recorded his best album to date and certainly his most experimental one. Highly recommended!"
- Artemi Pugachov- (Encyclopedia of Electronic Music)-
10 tracks. Running time 56:03
Guido Meyer's 2007 offering contains familiar EM rock elements but this time he's added less strident instrumentation such as glockenspiel and wind chimes, and even a coffee cup! The title Connected to the Dead is a reference to paranormal activities with a family member when he was young.
Ghostly washes and wooden rattles open the album in the short piece “The Gathering”. Light churchly organ sounds then add an eerie sense of the supernatural while swirling washes and otherworldly tinkling stand out in a build up to a crescendo.
A couple of tracks later Guido plugs in and lets rip his heavy metal guitar in “On the Other Side” which is soaked in blistering guitar lines and drums broken up by a just as unsettling interlude of bright glissandos, distorted groaning voices, and whistles. This is the only track straying into heavy metal territory, though some pieces such as “Multidimensional” do feature electric guitar plus drum programming and percussion. In this track there's a lot of synth initially followed later by guitar tones and playing a little reminiscent of Mike Oldfield's Five Miles Out.
It's in the aptly titled “Ghost Sonata” that guitar is eschewed in favour of a springy piano sound and synth effects. You can imagine the spirit of a pianist playing forlornly as ghostly whistles and humming sounds glide around and voices merge almost imperceptibly with the music.
The way Guido uses guitar and other sounds on Connected to the Dead does give a sense of communing with spirits and another realm. The mix of some melodic EM rock with discordant spectral ambient passages works well overall. It should appeal to those who like bold music that grabs the listener at a visceral level.
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