FELIX JAY and NICOLA ALESINI
Other Suns
(p) (c) 1997 Hermetic Recordings
11tks/50mins

Usually, while making a review to any album, one begins to search for analogies, explaining that this music is likely to that..., reminds of that... (such is the quality of human mind).

I would like to say (to my great joy!) that in this very case that method cannot be used. What is the Other Suns: jazz, ambient, new age or something else? It is every of the above mentioned stile, and no one of them. The matter is that the music of Felix Jay can not be compared with anything. It is very individual. This is really the music of Felix Jay. Yes, it could be said, that the Other Suns can be compared to the music of Brian Eno. But to compare music of Felix Jay with the music of more famous Brian Eno, is the same thing as to compare two very beautiful, but very different flowers. And, talking about flowers, Felix Jay's music is a wild flower. It is very vivid, spontaneous.

Music of the Other Suns is enchanting the listener from the very first cords of the leading, hard sounding composition Roller of the Heart. And even when, later on, the sound of the album becomes calmer and more peaceful, the Other Suns does not "let go". Here, the matter is not only is various keyboards and percussion of Felix Jay, and saxophones of Nicola Alesini adding more jazz-like sound. It comes entirely from the whole air of the album, that specific aura, created by this music. I will only say that it is useless, to try expressing it by words.

I wish to mention that in the record of this album took part such incredible musicians as Robert Grey, Andrew Heath (which is famous for the Aqueous - joint project with Felix Jay), and, certainly, well-known electronic musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius. He has decorated the composition Clouded Moon with his original keyboards.

But that will do for the words. Don't miss this very interesting project. Yes, this music is worth listening to (it is not very easy to comprehend). Still, if you'll listen to the Other Suns without haste, then you could for sure completely enjoy sophisticated musical sculptures, which are presented to us by two sorcerers: Felix Jay and Nicola Alesini.

Serge Kozlovsky