Former guitar pop type Thanos Christodoulou switched to making modern classical music in 2015, releasing his first album under the alias Lumiere in 2017. His second album, ‘Phases’, was recorded during a period in which he moved from France to Astros in Greece, and that personal transition can be heard in the reflective, introspective melodic refrains that give the album its distinctive colour.
There’s a journeying, transformative quality in ‘Doppler’, whose stop-start rhythmic shape finds itself at the intersection of minimalism and modern jazz, overlaid with oscillating electronics and stirring strings. ‘Acrophobia’ is led by Christodoulou’s pensive piano layers, quickly coalescing into a sense of firmness and determination with staccato strings and solid drumming. ‘Reichstag’ is the album’s standout, bustling along on a funky beat overlaid with gently discordant percussive sounds recalling the likes of Harry Partch and Steve Reich. Music for gazing nostalgically at sepia-tinted memories.
