Sound Scape by Thomas Simon

Born in Vienna, Austria, Simon embraces a world-beat approach to music by creating cinematically inspired compositions that know no bounds, even blending tabla and didgeridu into his darkly meditative concoctions.

     Simon exhibits an excellent sense of building space and rhythm, performing in a noir-ish style that sometimes recalls Dead Can Dance and other 4AD artists. On the few vocal tracks, he seems inspired more by the darker work of Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails).

     The 14 tracks on Sound Scape represent a sampling of his spooky soundtrack work, mostly dark-wave instrumentals that have a generally nightmarish quality to them. His sonic images are usually quite evocative as he is quite adept at fusing strong tribal and industrial influences, triggering the imagination to his film-inspired delights. -- Mark Newman

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review by Legends Magazine, 2003:

Artist: Thomas Simon

CD: Sound Scape

Reviewed by: Mike Ventarola

Thomas Simon is a new name to this reviewer, though he is not new to the artistic community by any stretch of the imagination. His music has been featured on commercial and college radio, commissioned for film soundtrack work, and even featured as part of a number of multimedia events around the globe.

Overture/outro: kicks off this CD with a rather darkly morose element of tension. It is pervasive, as though one is walking down a corridor, not knowing what will jump out.

Insane: immediately splices into the reverie with a trip hop yet industrial style rock hybrid. Rather than singing the vocals or growling them like so many others in the genre, Simon utilizes a sotto voce effect. This implies the fleeting thoughts within someone while also giving rise to an element of physical movement at the same time.

Dead Hero: was tagged as goth-worldbeat. Outside of Dead Can Dance, very few have managed to successfully create such a hybrid. Simon does rise to the challenge rather flawlessly. The track is drenched in midnight darkness yet percussive enough to provide a sentiment of something sinister lurking within the jungle. The sotto voce singing once again expands upon the experience.

Soothe: creates a lush instrumental journey that entrances the listener with tabla and keyboard. While it is quite reflective and meditative, it still conveys a sensuality in the darkness.

Night Run: is another instrumental track, however it is much more somber and emotionally heavy than the previous tracks. While the songs before this were dark, they skirted at the top edges of abyss. This track enters the unknown with trip hop and moodiness with lavish doses.

Stalking: is part of the soundtrack Black Wine. More information is available at www.blackwinethemovie.com . It is even darker and more malevolent than the preceding piece. Beneath the notes are layers of tension, anticipation and calculation. It is understandable why this was included in a film, as it does jog the mind with emotional triggers to stimulate the imagination.

The Disposal: is yet another track from the Black Wine soundtrack. It opens with dark anticipation, causing the listener to unconsciously hold their breath. Similarly to A Murder of Angels, this track utilizes odd sound effects with buried notes to evoke impressions. It then veers into a slow trip hop groove that marries all of it together in a creative hybrid between the percussive and the malevolent.

Altered Planet: pushes a bit more of a rock styling that delivers a simple lyric that wherever we go, "there's nowhere to hide." Here we are also treated a bit more to Simon's actually vocal talents that is conducive for such rock styles.

Melodie: is also from the Black Wine soundtrack. It blends a southern rock style with essences of sonic images that evoke scenes from a barren wasteland.

Infinite: is an ambient instrumental piece that merges the spatial with the worldbeat in a rather diverse yet pensive way. Peaceful essences are counterpointed with transitional shapes that converge, expand, contract and evaporate.

Galaxies: adds touches of rock and darkness in yet another hybrid. Jill Simon adds her vocals to this track and certainly has one heck of a career ahead of her in the underground if she continues to pursue this passion. Her vocals combine the element between the sweet ingénue and an angst ridden young woman on the point of emotional breakthrough.

The Calling: was described by the artist as hard rock, ambient goth. It is reminiscent of early goth/punk hybrids and works very well as a track meant for club exposure. Simon's vocals are stretched further and we realize that he embodies an unlimited source of creativity and talent.

Restless: places the didjeridu at the forefront of this ambient piece. Blanketing the sound of this instrument around the other created notes gives a living vibrancy to the dark intonations that is sometimes lost from merely electronic notes.

Tribal Move: takes tribal to a whole new height. Instead of the expected sounds one has come to expect from jungle type music, it places a sense of urgency within the confines of its creation.

Thomas Simon introduces listeners to a myriad of his musical works from all fronts. This particular CD encompasses tracks from his former project Love Alien as well as added tracks from films and previous recordings. Rather than presenting a full CD full of darkness or ambient work, the sequencing of the various genre hybrids worked well to carry the listener and maintain one's interest.

With all of the work that Simon has managed to accumulate for his professional portfolio, it is only a matter of time before his talent emerges full force from the world of the avant garde artistic world.

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Originally from Vienna, Austria,

Composer/Musician/Producer/Filmmaker, Thomas Simon, has toured internationally (Love Alien, T.S.MSF); has been commissioned to created music for film, tv and theater.

He filmed the documentary/musical travelogue "Thomas Simon WalkAbout" all through 2003 (Europe, South America, Central Asia).

The muscial travelogue was officially selected by five Film Festivals in North America in '05 and '06.

He produced numerous records, which received airplay on commercial and college radio worldwide....

In 2007, Simon is playing shows and Festivals in Eastern Europe with his alternative rock, xtc outfit: MUSICIENS SANS FRONTIÉRES.

He resides in New York City.

more info: www.endorphinrecords.com

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