John Christian - Susbarbatus

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John Christian - Susbarbatus

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John Christian is one third of AirSculpture and if you like that band you should also love this. It is really his first solo album though there was the earlier ‘Bohunt Sabotage’. That release however was really more like a limited edition promo. It was good though really just a sketching of ideas he was working on at the time. ‘Susbarbatus’ is the genuine article and rather superb it is too. We begin with the title track. After the customary atmospherics we get a storming sequence, fizzing round the edges like steam spewing from a train escaping from Hell. A delicate lead provides a little softness while a second sequence propels us forward at an even greater pace, becoming more intense all the time. Absolutely brilliant! ‘Los Ashes’ gets straight into the sequence, slow and purposeful accompanied by a dark menacing lead. It’s a track that would have been very much at home on Tangerine Dream’s ‘Sorcerer’. At around the half way mark all is replaced by shuffling effects then a slightly more optimistic sequence breaks through as if we have left the darklands behind us but the future is still very much uncertain. ‘Brane Storm’ starts quietly but gradually the drones and effects become more intense. This is brooding, grumbling stuff bringing up images of all sorts of unpleasant things hiding in the shadows. Listen to with the lights on! ‘Forest of Weaver’s Beams’ immediately returns us to the sequences, two absolutely exquisite ones that got my whole body moving. Bass stabs create even more urgency, a rapid staccato loop acting almost like a warning siren. The real highlight now though is the gorgeous melancholy melody that reaches straight for the heart. Yet another sequence accompanies it, much faster than the lead but appropriately tender. Another absolutely awesome track. Not sure where ‘Mangrove (live)’ was recorded but I assume from John’s Hampshire Jam performance. A no nonsense purposeful sequence emerges out of swirling, whooshing atmospherics. A mid paced lead takes centre stage as a second sequence falls into formation with the first. Another lead, softer than the first, adds a pleasant contrast. Much of the album, up to this point, has a late seventies Berlin School feel to it but ‘Antiquark’ seems to fast-forward us slightly to a more early eighties sound, reminding me a little of the TD tracks from ‘Risky Business’. It features some beautiful melodic sequences and provides an excellent conclusion to a superb album. All three AirSculpture members have now produced output outside the band and some fine music they have released too but though John might disagree, this is closest to the AirSculpture sound.