Syndrome
Now And Forever

This music is just perfect! … for you who just want something sounding in the background instead of complete silence. However, as a music album that you actually pay attention to and listen to it's not particularly good.

The 'Now And Forever' LP consists of ONE 34 1/2 minutes long track that reminds me of the film music you'd have in a scene where a lone person has got lost far from the civilization in the fog on Iceland or some other plateau landscape in Scandinavia. This lone person is then searching for rescue over miles of nothingness without finding anything alive anywhere. Personally, I wouldn't like a movie that has a 34 1/2 minute long scene where this is happening (or rather isn't happening because that's quite dull in my opinion) and I don't really care much for something that sounds like that for 34 1/2 minute either.

The album doesn't consist of one sound (or one sequence of sounds) throughout the entire album, though. In the beginning there's even a short passage with vocals and that real desperation of the guy searching in the fog actually comes first by the last 15 or 20 minutes (all though the feeling is all over the album), in the beginning it seems like he's more hopeful though!

Syndrome is a Belgian one man band and 'Now And Forever' is the second full length release. The album doesn't really feature any major contrasts and sounds pretty much similar throughout the entire 34 1/2 minute track, even though there are a noticeable difference between the first five minutes and the last - if you jump from one to the other. Over the full album the transition from the beginning to the end makes it quite unnoticeable, though.

As I said, I think this album works brilliantly - but only as elevator music or to overcome that annoying silence you get sometimes (or as the film score to a scene where a man - or woman - is searching in fog for civilization whilst lost on a Scandinavian plateau). But after hearing this album for some 20 times now I must say it's not really giving me the music experience of my life. It's sort of beautiful, in a way, or at least well made - but it's not really the kind of album you sit down and listens to for the sole purpose of listening to it. It's just too long, too monotonous and too relaxing to be that, but that doesn't mean it lacks musical qualities. In a way it's quite nice and it's definitely easy to listen to (in the background) - I've actually had it on for several hours in a row sometimes without even really reflecting over the fact that it was playing. But that's not only something positive, it's also pretty negative as that means it doesn't really get your attention.

'Now And Forever' is an ambient, transparent and harmonic album. You can even call it moody and slitghtly beautiful, but one 34 1/2 minutes long track that can't get your attention isn't really the thing you'd jump on a plane for if you'd had to go to Iceland to buy it. It's more of the album that you could hear for 50 straight hours and still not be fed up with, but at the same time I'm guessing you'd wonder if you'd heard anything at all.

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