Vangelis Katsoulis – The Slipping Beauty

Featured in the “Meditative” section of Chee Shimizu’s Obscure Sound disc guide, The Slipping Beauty is a collection of sixteen short electronic pieces by the “other” Greek synth god named Vangelis. It follows 1986’s also excellent Minimal Suite – Double Image which interestingly takes an entirely different approach with just two 20+ minute compositions. As usual, Katsoulis’ synthesizer sounds and melodies are astoundingly beautiful and though the songs are short, the ideas are well formed and highly satisfying. From the liner notes: “the title of this record… points to the idea of beauty which comes to the artist as an inspiration and suddenly vanishes,” which makes complete sense given the quick, inspired feeling to the tracks. For those wishing the songs were a little longer, head to 2015’s Sleeping Beauties Remixed which features reworks that extend Katsoulis’ ideas to suit longer listening and even the dancefloor.

Recommended – Full Listen