01	Estranged						02:49
	02	Ashes						05:31
	03	High						04:14
	04	Cold Metal						06:52
	05	Fate						07:41
	06	Sick Ceremony						03:46
	07	A Lost Message						04:32
	08	Surreal						04:39
	09	Sweet Little Brother						06:08
	10	Dreamer						05:17

Ambient Ayreon
http://www.ayreon.com

ambient progressive music featuring
Arjen Anthony Lucassen and
vocalist Astrid van der Veen




Review, Interview and HTML c Russell W Elliot 2001
Last updated: 27 May 2001

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The latest album from Arjen Lucassen is a ten-track collaboration with 14-year old singer Astrid van der Veen whose debut album Beautiful Red drew his attention during 2000. This led to their acoustic recording of "Temple of the Cat" and sneak preview of "Cold Metal" on for Ayreonauts Only. Originally conceived as an ambient remix of Ayreon instrumentals, Ambeon's Fate Of A Dreamer (Transmission Records (The Netherlands) TM-030, 2001), blends electronic patterns, chords and melodies derived from existing songs with Astrid's crystalline vocal arrangements. Our review of Fate of a Dreamer is accompanied by an extensive interview with Astrid van der Veen with further comments provided by Arjen Anthony Lucassen. A review of Beautiful Red will be published by Musical Discoveries during June 2001.

Ayreon's last three albums have been met with critical worldwide acclaim. The two-CD Universal Migrator set is comprised of The Dream Sequencer (review) CD containing subdued, atmospheric progressive songs with female vocal contributions by a broad variety of artists familiar to Musical Discoveries' readers. The second, Flight of the Migrator (review) is filled with pulverizing metal songs. The third and limited edition album, Ayreonauts Only (Transmission Records TM-027, 2000) is comprised primarily of various remixes of previously released Ayreon material from the past several albums and introduced Astrid van der Veen to Ayreon's fans.

While each track on Fate of a Dreamer stands alone perfectly, the album works equally well as a cohesive whole with lyrics and sounds on the ten selections that comprise Fate of a Dreamer flowing wonderfully from one to the next. Ambeon's music builds on Ayreon's sound with the material blending atmospheric, celtic, electronic, gothic, metal and progressive styles. Arjen plays guitars and keyboards; he wrote the music, produced and mixed the album. Astrid sings lead and backing vocals and wrote the storyline and concept, melodies and lyrics. John and Pat McManus from Celtus add to the folky atmosphere by playing flute, pipes and fiddle. The project also includes contributions of Stephen van Haestregt (drums) and Walter Laupeirissa (bass and fretless bass).

We asked Astrid to tell us about her background prior to her debut CD Beautiful Red. She told us, "I've been writing my own songs for quite a long time now. My mother is singer and she taught me how to sing when I was just a little kid. I also play the piano which I mostly learned myself. On Beautiful Red I sing and play the piano and it could be described as soft-alternative-piano-and-vocal-music. I wrote and produced all the songs myself. It was not recorded in a real studio and today people can only buy it from me."

Interested readers should note that Astrid's sister Linda is also a singer. Her debut album Always the right way Always the wrong with the band Railway will be published by Musical Discoveries during June 2001. The album is available from the band's website.

Astrid told us about how she and Arjen met, "A guy that helped me with the recording of Beautiful Red sent Arjen my CD. When he heard my voice, he immediately called me up. He asked me if I would like to sing "Temple of the Cat" in his studio and maybe even sing on his new project. I was kind of surprised and I didn't know who he was or what he did; I never even heard about Ayreon. He sent me some of his CDs and I really liked them, so I told him I would like to sing on the new project."

We asked Arjen to tell us how he found Astrid and about his collaboration with her. He told us, "I was looking for a female singer and at that time I got an MP3 of her singing." He remarked, "Now I get a lot of material from musicians who want to be on Ayreon, but never that amazing! So I immediately called her up and sent her some Ayreon albums. She really liked them, and came to my place-with her whole family-to sing a few songs just as a try-out." He continued, "I was so amazed-I felt I had to have her make all her own lyrics and melody lines. I mean what would have happened if someone -like Gilmour-would have told Kate Bush what to sing, hey? Amazingly, despite the age difference we think alike a lot and have the same musical taste." Talking further about her talent, he said, "She is one of the best singers I ever recorded. Whether she is 14, 24 or 34, she is a great singer. I'm sure we will hear a lot from her in the future and I'm so proud being a part of her history and having made her first official album with her!"

Astrid told us about her collaboration with Arjen Lucassen on the Ambeon project, "Working with Arjen was very nice. We had really close cooperation and I enjoyed working together with him! I think we really helped each other and we gave each other new ideas." She told us about her favourite artists, "I like a lot of bands in many different styles-metal, gothic, celtic, atmospheric, rock, etc. Here is a short list: Alice in Chains, 16 Horsepower, Dream Theatre, Pearl Jam, After Forever, The Gathering, Appocalyptica, An Pierl, The Cure, Nirvana and Seplutura."

The contrast between Celtic ("Estranged," "High," "Lost Message") and progressive metal ("Ashes," "Sick Ceremony," "Sweet Little Brother") styles are cohesively bound by evocative female vocals and symphonic instrumental arrangements. Instrumentals "Fate" and "Dreamer" are equally enjoyable while the epic "Cold Metal" and standout "Surreal" individually span the album's range.

We asked Astrid how she developed her vocal style and to elaborate on her musical training and education. She told us, "When I was about ten years old I took singing lessons. I had two years of classical and three years of lichte muziek (popmusic, softmusic). Many people compare my voice to Alanis Morisette, Kate Bush, Tori Amos and others. Funny thing is that I didn't know any them until people told me this. Well, maybe I'm a little influenced after all. But not on purpose. I hate it when people imitate other artists. So, I think they only help me to develop my own style."

We asked Astrid what artists influenced her style and song writing. She responded, "I am unaware how other artists have influenced me. I find that I'm busy with music all day. When I'm not making music, I'm listening to it. And I think hearing so many different things gives rise to my own ideas and my own sytle. Of course sometimes I get new ideas from hearing other music-I'm not sure-I don't intentionally try to copy other artists."

Astrid told us about her song writing and explained the key differences between working on Beautiful Red and Fate of a Dreamer. "I worked on Beautiful Red all alone. The music is totally mine and it was totally me-it sort of expressed me. Now Ambeon is a combination of Arjen and me. That way I am only half of it all. And that's the difference I think. But the other half (Arjen) is great, it is so great to share your music with someone like him-to build on each others' ideas and inspire each other." Each of the tracks on the album is anecdotal drawing on emotionally charged topics including love, despair, lonliness and even death.

Fate of a Dreamer opens with a short atmospheric piece entitled "Estranged" whose arrangement blends Celtic-style flute and progressive textures with Astrid's far ranging vocal lead. Instrumental power is equalled by Astrid's sensually sung lead in the "Ashes," whose lyrics actually contain the album's title. Progressive instrumental arrangements with atmospheric keyboard sequences and metal edged guitar blend perfectly with the soaring vocal excursions. Celtic instrumentals-flute and pipes-blend with guitar and a sensually soaring bluesy vocal lead in the track "High." Erik Norlander and Lana Lane contribute synthesizer and backing vocals respectively.

The track "Cold Metal" first appeared on Ayreonauts Only as a sampler of the Ambeon album yet to come. A standout track on Fate of a Dreamer, the track dramatically blends Astrid's layers of emotionally delivered vocal layers with progressive and metal-edged atmospheric instrumentaly arrangements. The thickly arranged metal-edged guitar is significantly contrasted by gently sung verse and layered chorus spanning Astrid's range in the track "Sick Ceremony."

Sequenced keyboards blend with celtic-flavoured arrangements of whistle and pipes to support Astrid's evocatively soaring vocals in the upbeat track "A Lost Message." Another highlight of the album is "Surreal," in which Arjen's electric and acoustic guitar passages lead the extended introduction of this lovely metal-edged ballad. Sensually sung with emotion hanging on every note, Astrid's lead and backing vocals are delightful. Astrid sings the dark story of "Sweet Little Brother" beautifully in a bluesy style backed by Ayreon-style symphonic-yet metal-edged-arrangements. Backing vocals and additional synthesizer passages, contributed by Lana Lane and Erik Norlander respectively, add to the dark texture of the track.

"Fate" is the first of two ambient flavoured instrumentals included on the album. With a running time of well over seven minutes and several distinct movements, it features atmospheric yet lushly produced Ayreon-style sequenced keyboard passages and melodic layers of Arjen's dynamic guitar work. The instrumental "Dreamer" clearly embraces the range of sounds on the album with orchestral keyboards being perfectly complimented by electric guitar melodies. In addition to her lovely vocalise part, a final round of ...'fate of a dreamer'... from Astrid concludes the track.

We asked Astrid what she's doing besides music. She told us, "I'm going to high school. I still have two more heavy years to go. I am very lazy and I hate studying things I don't even want to know! But after this I want to go to "de Rockacademie" in Tilburg. That's a school for people that want to become professional musicians."

Astrid told us about her live performances, "I enjoy playing live. It's kind of a magical experience. For most of the performances I'm not nervous, but I am a little tense. During a performance of my own music from Beautiful Red, I find myself in a sort of a fog. It's just great! It's different than singing for myself on my own because I know then there is no one to hear it. When I'm in front of an audience, I'm expressing something that I've made. That's great!"

Astrid has also performed with After Forever (review) on stage. She told us about it, "I sang the part of Sharon den Adel "Beyond Me." Originally, she sang those lines on their CD. I'm going to sing with them again on "Bospop" and "Eurorock" in Belgium." She continued, "Singing with After Forever is different again. It's like a dream. There is only a little I can remember after the show. But the audience is always very enthusiastic! I got a lot of compliments and I like the fact they appreciate it. Sometimes people are really impressed, and that gives me a good feeling. It's good that they felt that the music touched them."

Unfortunately, Astrid and Arjen have no plans to perform the Ambeon material on stage.

We asked Astrid how the internet influenced your musical career and the promotion of her. She told us, "I'm getting lots of e-mails every day. So many people are very enthusiastic. It's great to hear what people think-even critics are welcome. I like to hear everyone's honest opinions."

The compact disc is accompanied by an extremely well-produced booklet loaded with additional photographs of the artists, full lyrics and Astrid's introductions to each of the tracks. Soundbites of "Estranged," "Cold Metal" and "Temple of the Cat" are presently available at Astrid's website. While track listings and soundbites were not available at the website when this review was written, Fate of a Dreamer can be ordered from amazon.com here. With Astrid's vocals inspired by Tori Amos and Kate Bush, Fate of a Dreamer is already delighting Ayreon's fans and drawing a wider audience to Arjen Lucassen's work. Certainly worth the wait, this album is one of the best we've heard in 2001. Easily worth a trans-Atlantic journey, the debut from Ambeon is a must listen!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fate of a Dreamer

Info Ambeon is a mysterious and ambient project of Arjen Anthony Lucassen, and features a young, and very talented female vocalist, Astrid van der Veen. Though Arjen mistakenly called Ambeon a band in the Ayreonauts Only liner notes, he rectified that; it is a project of Astrid and Arjen.

Originally Arjen set out to record an ambient instrumental album based on certain electronic patterns, chords and melodies derived from the recorded tracks of existing Ayreon songs (to test his new studio hardware system). In the process some new songs evolved, and Arjen figured female vocals on one or two songs would add a warm human touch

Arjen heard a recording of a 14-year young Dutch singer named Astrid van der Veen. This was exactly the voice he was looking for, and so he asked her to write lyrics and melodies to go over some of these re-constructed ambient tracks and then sing them. This arrangement worked out extremely well. So before he realized it the album had developed from an instrumental album with two vocal songs to a vocal album with two instrumentals.

To get as much outside input as Arjen could in order to not make it sound too much like an Ayreon album, he decided to involve several musicians who could bring in their own ideas, just like Astrid did. Stephen van Haestregt, who helped Arjen out with the technical issues of his new hard disk recording system, turned out to be a very good and versatile drummer.

The experienced Walter Latupeirissa (Snowy White, Steve Lukather, Pat Travers) played some great bass and fretless bass. And two guys from the band Celtus, John and Pat McManus, added to the folk atmosphere by playing flute, pipes and fiddle.

Name
The name Ambeon is a combination of the words ambient and Ayreon.

Single
The Cold Metal single was released to support the release of Fate of a Dreamer and contains one new, spontaneously recorded song based on 'The Dawn of Man'- Merry- Go- Round.

1. Cold Metal (3:46) Remix single version
2. Merry-Go-Round (4:43) Previously unreleased track
3. High (3:26) Remix
4. Cold Metal (7:05) Album version

More Ambeon?
Although Arjen is not ready to retire this project, there are no plans yet for a follow- up to 'Fate of a Dreamer'.
Singers
Astrid van der Veen - Vocals and backing vocals
Lana Lane - Reversed backing vocals (3, 9)

Musicians
Arjen Lucassen - Acoustic and electric guitars, analog keyboards, samples and weird noises
Stephen van Haestregt - Acoustics and electronic drums and percussion
Walter Latupeirissa - Bass- and fretless bass guitar

John McManus - Low Flute and Uilleann Pipes (on 1, 3, 7)
Pat McManus - Fiddle (on 3, 7)
Erik Norlander - Additional synths (on 8, 9), voice of news reporter


Ambeon - это скорее всего не группа, а проект Арьена Лукассена (Arjen Lucassen), известного всем по своему проекту Ayeron, и очень талантливой вокалистки - Астрид Ван Дер Вин (Astrid Van Der Veen). Собственно началось все как и у всех :) Услыхал как-то раз Арьен необыкновенно красивый голос Астрид и все, пришла в голову идея, что-нибудь эдакое с ней записать. Сперва, я думаю это был специальный шаг Арьена, для раскрутки нового проекта, первое творение новоявленной звезды появилось на последнем из ныне существующих альбомов Ayreon - Ayreonauts Only. Называлась песня "Cold Metal". Впервые ее услышав, мне навсегда запомнился чувственный, эмоциональный, необыкновенно нежный и красивый вокал Астрид! С этого и началось мое знакомство с этой прекрасной вокалисткой, ну и соответственно с ее группой - Ambeon. Дальше было больше! Меня ожидали 10 прекрасных песен, включая и "Cold Metal", которые вышли в 2001 году на первом альбоме Ambeon - Fate Of A Dreamer. А теперь расскажу о том, что по поводу Ambeon думает сам Арьен.


Первоначально я хотел записать инструментальный альбом, построенный на некоторых электронных моделях, аккордах и мелодиях, взятых из уже существующих песен Ayreon. Во время записи, получились новые песни и я понял, что было бы здорово, если в одной-двух песнях будет звучать женский вокал.

В то время я услышал запись 14-ти летней Голландской вокалистки Астрид ван дир Виин (Astrid van der Veen). Это был как раз тот голос, который я искал! Я попросил ее написать тексты и мелодии для того, чтобы потом попробовать наложить их уже на написанный материал, ну а затем уже спеть их. Такой вариант аранжировки сработал на ура! Я даже не успел заметить, как альбом перетек из инструментального, с парой песен с вокалом, в вокальный альбом с парой инструментов!

Чтобы получить как можно больше идей, но одновременно не сделать альбом таким же по звучанию, как и альбомы Ayreon, я решил пригласить нескольких музыкантов, которые могли бы привнести свои идеи в проект, так как это сделала Астрид. Stephen van Haestregt, который помог мне с проблемами записи на мой новый жесткий диск, на деле оказался очень хорошим ударником.

Опытный Walter Latupeirissa (Snowy White, Steve Lukather, Pat Travers) сыграл отличные бас партии. А двое ребят из группы Celtus, John и Pat McManus, добавили в альбом фолковой атмосферы, сыграв на флейте.

Как Вы наверное уже догадались, у Ambeon пока что существует только один альбом, но и этого достаточно! Зная Арьена, можно с твердостью утверждать, что нас ждет еще не один альбом с этой вокалисткой! Итак, если интересно, переходим конкретно к самому альбому!




Ambeon - Fate Of A Dreamer

Released: 2001
Label: Transmission
Cat. No.: TM-030
Total Time: 51:29


Reviewed by: Larry Daglieri, February 2002
"The name Ambeon is a combination of "ambient" and "Ayreon." The songs on this CD are based on Ayreon songs, with new lyrics and melodies written and performed by 14 year old singer, Astrid van der Veen."

The opening paragraph defines this disc perfectly. It comes directly from the CD, and basically it's Ayreon music played in a New Age style, with swirling keyboards, synths, the semi-crunching guitars of Arjen Lucassen, and a pop-style 14 year-old singer performing different lyrics than the original Ayreon music.

Leave it to Arjen Lucassen to come up with a side project like this one. It actually works. Ayreon music by itself is extremely atmospheric, and when it's transformed into a New Age style, it becomes surreal, to say the least. You will definitely have to enjoy the New Age style of music to enjoy this disc, along with the very poppy vocals of Astrid van der Veen. While the song titles and lyrics have been transposed to fit the Ambeon project, you will still recognize the Ayreon based original melodies from which the song structures were born. The bottom line is that this is a dreamy, atmospheric, surreal disc, which certainly won't do much for metal heads, but might enthrall fans of Ayreon who want to hear Arjen Lucassen at work in a different light. My only personal complaint with the whole concept is the poppy vocal approach. While it does work, it does remind me of what today's modern teen singers sound like on the radio. Astrid would certainly make the teen list of modern heroes and sounds like she should be singing in one of today's modern teen group, which dominates the radio airwaves these days.

The sound was completely produced and mixed by Arjen Lucassen, which means that sound quality is way over the top and more than excellent by any standards. Add in the fact that the great Sascha Paeth mastered the disc, and you have the highest quality standards of sound known to man. The sound will certainly test your stereo system and show it off proudly. It's perfection and beyond, but what else would we expect from Arjen Lucassen.

If you're looking for something completely different, and something from Arjen Lucassen while we anxiously await the next Ayreon disc, this should fit the bill nicely. Love of New Age music is a must, and if you don't mind the poppy approach to the vocals, this is sheer excellence as it stands.


[See also Bobo's review - ed.]

Reviewed by: John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg, June 2001
By now it is clear to all prog lovers that the Ayreon project of flying Dutchman Arjen Lucassen needs an average of about two years in between releases. Right now I can tell you that the next album has been planned for a 2002 release. To make sure the wait isn't too long, Arjen released an album of outtakes and demos called Ayreonauts Only. On this album, well-known Ayreon classics were sung by vocalists other than the ones we know from the official releases. One of those songs was an acoustic version of "Temple Of The Cat" sung by the fourteen year old Astrid Van Der Veen. Having released her very own album called Beautiful Red, this girl has the voice Arjen was dreaming of for another project outside of Ayreon. Taking the words "ambient" and "Ayreon" to form Ambeon, Arjen wanted to take well-known Ayreon material, but transform them by adding new lyrics and melodies. What was initially planned as being a very ambient sounding album, in the end became a dark sounding experiment in a similar vein as Within Temptation and After Forever. Recorded with a very limited line-up, the atmosphere on the album is indeed very intimate, making room for the expressive and powerful voice of Astrid.

As a preview, the track "Cold Metal" had been included on the Ayreonauts Only album, but there it still had Jolanda Verduijn on bass. On the Fate Of A Dreamer album she has been replaced by Walter Latupeirissa (Snowy White, Pat Travers, Steve Lukather), which means the teaser version remains unique. The album opens with "Estranged", a song that immediately illustrates the wide range of Astrid's voice. Augmented with typical folky instruments courtesy of two members of the band Celtus, it gives a nice celtic feel. Recorded and produced at Arjen's Electric Castle studio, especially the rhythms are more laidback than on the Ayreon albums, which again emphasizes the vocals. By overdubbing layers of Astrid's backing vocals the vocals almost become like a whirlwind of sounds, as is apparent during "Ashes." Introducing uillean pipes in "High" kind of gets in the slipstream of projects such as Adiemus and Enigma but that's before Astrid starts singing, moving her voice like a snake through the twists and turns of Arjen's arrangements.

The long instrumental "Fate" holds enough Jean-Michel Jarre references to keep you happy throughout. Especially the use of the sequencers, together with the way the rhythm is incorporated, goes back to the Equinox period. The opening for "Sick Ceremony" comes close to Pink Floyd yet the hard guitar riffs wipe out all Gilmour comparisons. In "Surreal" Arjen treats us to a nice tasty portion of acoustic guitar, which kind of lifts this song to "unplugged" heights, backed by great fretless bass to make Jaco Pastorius jealous! The instrumental "Dreamer" sports Astrid's vocals, used as an extra instrument floating between the guitar parts and adding kind of a Michelle Young-Kate Bush flavour to the final chords.

So instead of an instrumental album with one or two vocal tracks, Fate Of A Dreamer turned into a vocal album with two instrumentals. In a way it kind of reminds me of Steve Rothery's Wishing Tree project, too good a project to only devote one single album to. As long as it remains impossible for Ayreon to be performed live, then Ambeon certainly is the solution. Order now for your weddings, bar mitzvahs and, why not, funerals as well!

[See also LarryD's review - ed.]

More about Fate Of A Dreamer:

Track Listing: Estranged (2:47) / Ashes (5:29) / High (4:12) / Cold Metal (6:50) / Fate (7:39) / Sick Ceremony (3:44) / Lost Message (4:30) / Surreal (4:37) / Sweet Little Brother (6:06) / Dreamer (5:17)

Musicians:
Astrid Van Der Veen - vocals, backing vocals
Arjen Lucassen - acoustic and electric guitars, analogue keyboards, samples
Stephen Van Haestregt - acoustic and electronic drums, percussion
Walter Latupeirissa - bass, fretless bass

Guests :

John McManus - low flute, uilleann pipes
Pat McManus - fiddle
Erik Norlander - additional synths
Lana Lane - reversed backing vocals

Contact:

Website: www.ayreon.com
listen.to/astridvanderveen
Note: will open new browser window

Discography (Ayreon)

The Final Experiment (1995)
Actual Fantasy (1996)
Into The Electric Castle (1998)
The Univeral Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer (2000)
The Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight Of The Migrator (2000)
Ayreonnauts Only
Fate Of A Dreamer (2001) (Ambeon)
Space Metal (2002) (Star One)