Ever since I've been a kid I've been exposed to sequencer, synthesizer and ambient music from the likes of Klaus Schulze, Mike Oldfield, Jean-Michel Jarre etc. Even though they are undoubtedly geniuses, revolutinees of the music field and whatnot, I have never became very close to their music, though I have always kind of liked them. Still, Im sure this exposion has left some mark. Often things you've listened as a kid hit you hard later on and I think I finally found my first knack of sequencer-type music on Alex Tiuniaev.
Alex Tiuniaev is an ambient and piano composer from Russia. His EP Treedreams is a small piano driven release consisting of two tracks, both freely downloadable from last.fm. Small does not necessary mean simple, and minimalistic doesn't mean it doesn't have a lot of textures. Alex Tiuniaev's work reminds me subconsciously of Klaus Schulze's sequencer outputs (which of them, I cannot say).
Treedreams I consists of a rhythmic melody circling around a rhythmic beat. Treedreams II:n has a similar beat present but it is more piano driven, than sequencer driven.Of these two Treedreams I is the simpler and clearly more memorable having a great catchy melodyline which took a few listens to materialize to its full potential. Treedreams II is a fine closer having more variation and more ambient. However for me Treedreams EP is not complete without a track from Alex Tiuniaev's newest album Blurred. Another free last.fm download "The Wild Winds Weep" can be cleverly bootlegged to serve as a brilliant intro to Treedreams. The Wild Winds Weep is my latest random find; a full on goosebump effect in the middle of a walk.
While I have only listened Blurred once I can say it does have lots of potential, especially the cinematic "We Were All Fishes Once" caught me unaware on first listen. I cannot fully express why, but somehow Alex Tiuniaev's music is extremely likable. If Treedreams or any of the synthesizer-artist-household-names-above make any impression to you Treedreams is, and free-to-listen Blurred may very well be, a shimmering find.
Overall score (modified EP): 8-/10
Download Treedreams for free here: http://www.last.fm/music/Alex+Tiuniaev/Treedreams+EP
