Halcyon by Pillion

1978 Was an important years for electronic music in Belgium. In that year, the duo Pillon was formed. The duo consisted of Walter Christian Rothe and Guy Drieghe D.. In 1980 they released their first lp, “Enigmas”, that over the years has received a legendary status. The music sounded different from what we knew at that time from other electronic musicians because it was more “rock” and less cosmic. A second album was recorded but sadly never came out. In stead of this, Pillion disbanded. Both started a new musical life. Rothe released a number of excellent, sometimes Vangelis-like soloalbums, and then moved to the United States to begin a career in filmmusic. Drieghe continued making music in Belgium.

In 2006, the two came back together again and recorded a conceptalbum for a theatre piece. It was about the changes in life one has been forced to do, if you have no choice, confirming what Pillion was all about: a way of life, a message, a vision, being yourself and "freak out". Unfortunately, the album was shelved but happily it is now released by Groove Unlimited. And rightfully so! It is really one of the best electronic musicalbums of recent times. “Out Of The Ashes” opens the cd with a masterful seqercerline, after which they start to rock.
Herwig Duchateau plays drums and Peter Heijnen electric guitar. The fat synthesizersolo remind of the MiniMoog sound from Klaus Schulze’s albums from the second half of the seventies. The second part of the track has an even better sequence. At a couple of times, the symphonic sequencermusic music from the Spaniards Dom F. Scab and John Lakveet comes in mind. Heijnen plays a great solo. This is how EM should sound. “Halcyon’s Day” is a fine ambientpiece, after which the sequences return in the melodically “Tabula Rasa”. In “The Sparrows Are Flying” the two slow things down. Here, clearly Tangerine Dream comes by from the years of their big albums “Rubycon” and “Ricochet”. In “Buick S7-A” again drums and guitar play an important. The melodies are great. The sequence from the first track returns in “A New Dawn”.

It is fantastic that Pillion is back: “Halcyon” is a masterpiece of electronic ingenuity. Hopefully we don’t have to wait so long for a next album.