Out Of The Desert

Artension was the brainchild of Shrapnel Records head Mike Varney. He received a demo from wunderkind keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij and progressive axeman Roger Staffelbach of a project they called "Atlantis Rising". Varney began to look for other musicians to round out the lineup. After a lot of consideration, Varney presented Vitalij and Roger with vocalist John West, Bassist Kevin Chown, and drummer Mike Terrana. The result was a band called Artension (named by the band for a combination of the words "art" and "tension") and a CD called "Into the Eye of the Storm".

So much of Steve Reich’s music depends on shifting tensions and sonorities. The slightest harmonic tweak in the upper strings must be as committed as the most grounding and predictable left-handed piano thuds. Consequently, performing his works requires an almost telepathic connection between musicians and expert marshalling, perhaps even more so than any other contemporary composer. This new recording of Reich’s Desert Music and his Three Movements fortunately adheres to this maxim, presenting unpretentiously but effectively these effervescent, atmospheric works.

Viktor Lazlo (real name: Sonia Dronier) is a French-Belgian singer of Grenadian and Martiniquan descent. She studied in Belgium, where she is primarily known. Her biggest hit was "Breathless" in 1987. That year she also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1987 held in Brussels. Dronier took her stage name from Paul Henreid's character Victor Laszlo in the 1942 film Casablanca. She sings in French, English, Spanish and German. Most of her albums were released in an English/international and a French version. Also, numerous compilation albums have been released.