‘Seasons Reversed’ by Sidus [EP Review]

Background from the Artist

Sidus is a Berlin based post-rock instrumental one-man band formed by bass player Spiros Olivotos. After a period of experimentation and pre-production, Sidus hit the studio (P.K. Productions) to record his first E.P. with the title “Seasons Reversed”. An instrumental, cinematic, post-rock, metal collection of five compositions, creates an intense though melodic and nostalgic atmosphere. Influenced by God is an Astronaut and Explosions In the Sky but also Deftones and Hans Zimmer, this E.P. combines dynamic guitars with soundtrack vibes and memorable melodies (released on 06/11/2020). The artwork of the EP was created by Makis Olivotos. In the self-titled track Kostas Milonas (Sunburst, Foray Between Ocean, New Day Slave) is featured on drums.

The band has already released four singles and gotten very positive reviews from musicians and fans too. Especially his second single “Prototypes/Replicas” which was described as “artistic storytelling” that “evolves into a full-blown story with tension, energy, relaxing moments and playful sceneries”. The third single “Energy In Emptiness” received great feedback and critique for the music composition as well as the video production. The fourth single with title “Stellar Sky” was inspired by a classic quote of Carl Sagan about the stellar origin of human species. 

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The latest release and final song of the single series from the debut EP is dealing with climate change. It describes a fictional world where the seasons are reversed and great natural catastrophic events dominate the Earth. The rapid development of western civilization turned our home planet against us. The crucial question is: How far away from this fantasy world are we?

One can see from space how the human race has changed the Earth. Nearly all of the available land has been cleared of forest and is now used for agriculture or urban development. The polar icecaps are shrinking and the desert areas are increasing. At night, the Earth is no longer dark, but large areas are lit up. All of this is evidence that human exploitation of the planet is reaching a critical limit. But human demands and expectations are ever-increasing. We cannot continue to pollute the atmosphere, poison the ocean and exhaust the land. There isn’t any more available.

Stephen Hawking

Envy

I’m quite a big fan of instrumental music. I have multiple playlists curated specifically for instrumental music.

However, I rarely actually sit down to critique them the same way I do with lyrical music. I think part of this has to do with lyrical music being more popular than instrumental music, and another part of it has to do with my lack of confidence when it comes to talking about straight musicianship.

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I wanted to talk about this album partly because it’s shorter and partly because it has a rock and synth vibe to it that I enjoy. I think a lot of people, when they think of instrumental music, they think of either classical and orchestral music or they think smooth jazz/elevator music. This album is neither of those things, and I believe that this opening track clearly shows the listener what the album will be like.

Energy In Emptiness

I like at the beginning of this song that there are these echoey guitars.

They have a very staccato feel to them, and the way that the music has been mixed makes one guitar strum come in the left ear, and the other guitar strum comes in the right here, which adds to the feeling of it being like an echo.

I think this adds to the idea of being in a large space, which I can only assume is one of the main themes of this piece, given the title.

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Simultaneously, it also reminds me of a bit of a heartbeat, which also makes me think of being alone. When you’re in a place that is so empty and so quiet, and you feel like you’re so much by yourself that you can hear your heartbeat in your chest.

Stellar Sky

This is probably my favourite song on the album.

I love the textures that are used throughout it. There’s all of this momentum in it from the different intensity levels and the different levels of volume. I love that there are these quieter moments where fewer instruments are used, and then there are these epic buildups to the more chaotic and vast sounding instrumental.

Throughout the whole album, there’s this feeling of an epic scale to the music. I think this probably has to do with how Sidus can make this very full and complex instrumental with a bunch of energy behind it with all of the rock elements. Still, it also feels complete with all of the different layers that he’s putting in that give little patches of complexity and emotion.

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Seasons Reversed

My favourite part about this song is that it starts somewhat melancholic and subdued, and then there’s this driving guitar that comes in suddenly. But even better than that, this very minimalistic synth melody gets played over this very consistent and driving guitar strumming.

I’m assuming this song has something to do with seasons changing and those Seasons then being flip and to go against expectations to have a piece that has very rapid tonal shifts but still carry some of those elements throughout, such as having the more subdued synth line over the top of these very hard-hitting guitars.

It harkens back to the beginning of the song and pulls some of that atmosphere through the music instead of dropping it very suddenly and having a very choppy melody.

Prototypes/Replicas

I feel as if a lot of this album has been about passion and moving forward with a driving force and a lot of chaos.

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This song starts off feeling more nostalgic to me like this is a moment of reconsideration of those passions.

But just because those passions are being reconsider doesn’t mean that they aren’t still passions of the album’s narrator or point-of-view character. And I think what’s exciting about this song is that the entire sound shifts in the latter half, and it feels more anxiety-driven. As if while reconsidering the things that have pushed them forward, there’s also all of that anxiety and worry about possibly whether those are the right things to be passionate about or whether they’re doing it in the right way.

I feel like there’s a lot of confusion and a mixture of emotions throughout the album that is summarized in this one song. Of course, I don’t have any lyrics, so I could be getting this completely wrong, but those are some of the things that it made me feel in the album’s closing.

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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