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Global Possibilities Ambient guitar meets electronica percussion in a CD of cinematic sweep Chris Bocast and MJCatalin
Stratagem
(Divergent Arts) by John Diliberto What do you do when you're a guitarist playing new wave music, but you get seduced by shape-shifting players like David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix and Bill Nelson? When Chris Bocast came to that crossroads, he dug deep into the ambient expanse and has now emerged with Stratagem, an album that is breathtaking in its scope and entrancing in its melodic thrust.

Working in a virtual, transcontinental mode with Cătălin Pîntea, a.k.a. MJCatalin, Bocast has found a meeting ground between dynamic compositions and ambient designs, a place where echoes of progressive rock are heard in electronica grooves.

From the opening track, "To Cross the Sea of Clouds," Bocast and MJCatalin establish the strategy of Stratagem. An ostinato bass line, ricochet filtered snare hits and a looping sequencer groove link up to an electronic drum loop while sweeping chords push the piece forward, It gradually opens up to Bocast's crying e-bow solos. After that, just sink into the world these two musicians orchestrate.

MJCatalin is a Romanian drummer and electronic artist and he mixes both modes here. "Song of the Dodo," a lament for the extinct bird, is driven by his kinetic groove which sounds acoustically played until sound effects start streaming off his drum hits.

Ironically, many of these tracks are sampled from their own works as each artist lifted from the other as well as cannibalizing their own recordings. A hidden track, "Zbor Indepartat" actually began as "Return of the Far Fleet" from Bocast's previous solo CD, Through the Airlock. MJCatalin added grooves and changed the piece completely. The track "Nocturne" actually began as an MJCatalin piece called "That Magic Light." Both tracks are reborn under Bocast and MJCatalin's virtual ministrations. MJCatalin supercharges Bocast's soundscapes with swampy, churning rhythms, while Bocast adds harmonic complexity and melodic flights to MJCatalin's electronica loops.

You can hear the roots of both artists in 80s synth pop (Bocast played in Tokyo Vogue) with songs like "Mr. X," but there's also a progressive side to these musicians that emerges on the dynamic, shifting scenes of "The Hidden Face of Eva" and "Caelestis Caravel."

Stratagem is an album of cinematic sweep. It's our CD of the Month for August.