Thierry David’s Sonic Mastery Takes Listeners on a Journey Through Time and Space on this, his 19th Album, SIX WAVES
The wind blows and causes a series of events, almost like a journey, to commence. The sound is melodic, a little bit dark, and very easy to listen to. There are a wide variety of instrumental voices, the feeling is both complicated and easy going, like the wind. On Six Waves each track explores a different musical place, what they have in common is the musical vision of Thierry David.
From the void of outer space as imagined in an echoey wet cave, comes a ponderous dream. The wind takes us out and then flows back in, “Causality” (5:08) is the first wave, and begins exploring the physical and geometrical notions of time and space. I hear wind and keyboards, always long sustained tones, maybe a slow and dreamy guitar, bending notions of time and space. The second wave starts to glow, an electronic rattle growls up from under a new drone bed, “Into the Wave Axis” (10:30) develops into a stealthy tempo, the electrical axis of the heart is the new direction in which the wave of depolarization travels. We slip through complex layers of instruments and drone-like tones, kind of a kosmische feel, electronic gigantic landscapes, sparse but complex, for a time the bass takes up the beat while the guitar searches all around.
The third wave, “Elliptical Tales” (9:57), begins and a warm glow emerges, slow and dreamy, strengthens, something new, lights up and vibrates on past, like a harp, getting brighter and now the bass has arrived, bringing periodic glissando sighs, with swirling details. Does elliptical also mean mysterious? Here nothing is rushed, all is quite soothing and sleepy. The guitar has arrived, fingerpicking classical strings, this is a multi instrument pattern flowing along with things that are backward sounds, cool, as we drift into darkness.

“Ultrasonic Vibes” (10:16) has the beat, the track starts with an image in my mind of metal cables in the wind, a low growl, we soon find a beat, jazzy funky loose compelling pulse sync and motion. We ride past distant cities of light and into the remote future, riding inside a comfortable chamber with a view. Things shift about up in the sky and beyond, the color lights up the area nearby. Slowing down now. Is this the end of the track? The beat comes back and we are shadow patterns dancing and carrying on, deeper we go dancing the whole way. The song’s title makes me think of sound waves with a frequency above the human ear’s upper limit. I see broken whale ghosts flickering in the beat, but the fever guitar range of tones is not up there greater than 20 kilohertz.
We are deep under water, the atmosphere is crackling and humming, bubbly hums start to fade in, “Submarine Whispers” (6:24) starts below the open ocean and goes deeper, with a throbbing bass beat and with a slow synth pulse. Radio static bubbles twitter past. The fifth wave sounds like we are shooting through the dark oceans, the ride is smooth and miraculous, there is a throbbing engine, there are things we pass through. We keep going steadily, then the feeling is coasting, now just gliding on, coasting in the darkness with no reference points, just free fall coasting, designed to operate completely submerged in the sea for long periods.
Starting with a very low deep buzz we begin a long slow fade in, a hum and then a reverberating bass. We have come to the title track, “The Sixth Wave” (9:09), the tension builds slowly in the huge chamber we traverse, there is white light and clean clarity, the territory is interesting and moderately energetic. Somewhere high above us soar the phantoms, over the sound of the bubbling boiling machine fluids and the bass, a beat with the bass and the pulsing electronics, sometimes coasting in darkness, deep under water in the dark thick and dreamy, on and on floating off forever, the sixth wave.
Thierry David was born in Paris in 1955, he practiced the major pieces from the classical repertoire before discovering the freedoms of jazz while still a teenager. He graduated from one of the prestigious business schools in Paris, he accepted a volunteer posting to the cultural service of the French Embassy in Lima, Peru. During this time he played with local musicians and probably began composing in new ways. He learned to create his own sound and his own musical world while he first pursued a very different path, which he evidently reconsidered. “Rather than rush into a diplomatic or business career, I attempted the entrance exam for Berklee College of Music in Boston. “He played in piano bars, gave piano lessons, accompanied jazz bands, rock bands, even heavy metal bands, and at odd times he amused himself with composing jingles which could have led to a very different destination.
Thierry David explores an engaging balance between the accessibility of irreducible energy and playful experimentation. I hear zen awakenings, imaginary voyages, sonic mosaics, accessible popular beats, international voices and instruments, space music, lounge music, this artist has made an amazing life of his wide-ranging love of music. LISTEN NOW!
Tracks
1 Causality
2 Into the Wave Axis
3 Elliptical Tales
4 Ultrasonic Vibes
5 Submarine Whispers
6 The Sixth Wave