Wormgear
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Scott Candey Wormgear |
This is a CDR collaboration between these two unique projects with a focus on the poet Krzysztof Kamil Baczynski who was killed in Warsaw, Poland by a sniper in 1944. There are 5 tracks here bringing together Eastern European folk influences, with warm drones and cryptic electronics. The creamy grit and sickly moan of a slowly drawn cello combined with the darkened textures is a really evocative mix, especially when set against the track titles. Taken from the said poets work the titles include, "Wings Torn From Ravens Line The Streets Where The Dead Walk," and "Arks Carry The Heads Of Decapitated Moons To The Other Shore." The drifting atmospherics are subtle, but fluid, rooted in low frequency and accented with delicate hums, buzzes, wriggling electronics and the wilting string accompaniment. There are guttural accented spoken vocals that appear on the fourth track as well with great effect. It's a hallucinatory melting of open skies and open grave. Spacious yet foreboding and spoiled; the tracks are not dense with sound, and so every detail rings through clearly and the understated shifts work like a slight of hand trick. This is really outstanding and unique in the environment it builds, given what is presented here it would be a shame if these two projects didn't revisit their cooperation down the road. top |
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Moron Industrial.org |
This latest disc from Somnambulant sports essay length song titles that on the surface could be mistaken for the track names from the lastest Impaled Moon Forest piss taking they are so ridiculously grandiose. It's only after reading the small print that it becomes clearer as far as the intent, the titles being yanked from the poetry of Krzysztof Kamil Baczynski. Sadly, that's a reference lost on me but one precious fact is not: this collaboration effort between Dead Raven Choir and Never Presence Forever be one hypnotic dose of neo-classical tinged darkness. There are 5 tracks on offer here with the total running time unfortunately only 34 minutes (very long EP or terse album, your choice). All the pieces share a mostly uniform structure and palette with main differentiation occurring via focus on that percussive or melodic. The foundation of the tracks is built up via multiple layers of thronging - pitched down piano or tuned rods reversed and layered to create a perpetual hum. Shaped noise also meanders in and out, swells of amplitude more common than filtering though both make an appearance. On top of this thick churning, percussion is introduced via the clank of tools, the calling of chimes and struck wood all heavy with reverberation and dust. Melodic content is formed from what sounds like real world strings with technique limited mostly to slow bowing and and effects tweakage. It's all very solemn and respectful, the latter element coming as if from a medieval past whose lineage lays closer to the cradle of civilization than northern shores. The compositions are not at all static with steady movement but that said, the allowed framework is well established within the first few minutes. This is not problem (not at all) but it does mean that if your impatience is inversely proportional to velocity, there are no steep hills here to steady your nerves. Comparison-wise, this release makes me picture Andrew Liles trying to creep out Aidan Baker at a Pholde gig. It has an implied darkness to it but due to the steady pace and smooth surfaces, it gives off a doomish stillness despite the occasional set of armour sent tumbling down an exposed well shaft. It's really quite a beautiful recording and the only slight I can generate is a complaint about length (I want more). I just don't recommend copying it for your friends lest you get carpel tunnel syndrome transcribing the epic length song titles. top |
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Marc Chain DLK |
When two characters like, Dead Raven Choir, a.k.a. Smolken, an exiled Polish anti-Communist prolific folk-psyche-noise artist, and Never Presence Forever, an equally prosperous American noister, get together, you know it outta be weird sounding. And of course Somnambulant records is alwasy attentive of such heretic and shadedly grimy collaborations and put this out as a 200 copies limited edition CD-R in an elegant and unholy DVD-size plastic sleeved handmade textured hard-paper sheet. Musically the latter of the two noisicians seems to have taken over, for the most part, as you'll hear deep and murky drones, noises, distortions, voices much more than you'll actually hear acoustic instruments, exception made for traces of lush string instruments in the distant background. Reverb halls, dismal atmospheres, eerie noises, nightmarish voices and long track titles (written in Polish and in English) make up this interesting 5 track release... top |