david newlyn -
friday night choir practice
carlos villena -
oscil.lacions en la penombra d
nigel samways -
Silver Rain, Green Trees
vecchi-teller -
one
nigel samways -
Poor Henrietta Marie
Tags: contemporary-classical, avant-garde, minimalism, electroacoustic, ambient
WTF Quality: human generated sounds evoking nature, extreme slowness
Lifespan: December 31, 2009 -
Country: England
The ephre imprint label was very recently launched in the UK and has been putting out some very deep and subliminal listening experiences in digital and vinyl format. Their releases fall in the realm of the cerebral and surreal - intricate sound worlds which are far from rock, jazz, folk, and other more rhythmical styles of music. We can feel the atmosphere of nature - caves, lakes, hills, seas, wood, and so on, but with a more synthetic, fantastical vibration. Please listen closely, there is much to be found.
I had the pleasure of hearing five of their releases and will cover each:
david newlyn [eph03] - Friday Night Choir Practice
Ephemeral music which sounds like a lo-fi tape collage of some of the more tranquil moments form a choir practice, mixed with electronically generated layers of cloud-like sound. The sounds were gathered from secret recordings from a cathedral and processed into a haunting spell of buried ancient secrets. Ultra-slow moving and almost static, but lightly rolling, voices gradually morphing into the transparent pool of sound.
carlos villena [eph04] - oscil.lacions en la penombra d
Wind, or tape hiss? Birds? Flutes? Machinery? A monster? What is coming? We are being led into a mystery. There is no end to the enigma, only a further winding. It is a secret place.
nigel samways [eph01] - Silver Rain, Green Trees [EP]
The title is completely fitting of the music. The layers of sound are separated from one another and swell, blend an overlap, so that when one listens closely, sounds can be heard emerging from the deep - then receding, while middle ground sounds swell and wash about, lightly echoing. Immediate, close-up sounds flicker quietly, and sudden unexpected sounds erupt sporadically, playfully. The mass of sound and its orbiting particles, through time, produces a truly multi-dimenstional ambience. Comprised of shorter tracks, each with its own characteristic mood, they all share these qualities of time-space.
vecchi-teller [eph02] - one
Right away, there is grit and noise. It travels on long stretches of floating tones, and as it builds it gathers momentum until it has burst into chaos. Five tracks of medium length, lots of buzzing, rumbling, beeps, garbled close-mic sounds, static blips, white noise spirals, and choppy electronic sparks. Be prepared for some hidden traps set up along the way. Of the five featured here, this one had me saying "what the fuck" the most.
nigel samways [hb/eph01] - Poor Henrietta Marie [EP]
A shimmering dreamscape through shadows, beams of light, liquid pools and deep mist, with voices calling from somewhere in the trees. There is calm serenity in this place but also there is a lurking danger, subtle and always trailing behind, yet never fully visible. High above, the locusts ceaselessly whistle. Someone or something is calmly droning a meditational call on reed and harp-like instruments. This music almost reminds me of trip-hop, but without the beat and a bit more abstract. Slowly shifting into different realms, the ambience vaguely transforms. Other scattered sounds appear, quietly and up close - percussive clicks, glassy tones, scrapings and scratchings.
please explore the webpage and links below to find music from these artists.
-Jeemobon
links:
http://www.ephreimprint.eu
http://ephreimprint.bandcamp.com/album/nigel-samways-poor-henrietta-marie-ep
http://soundcloud.com/ephre-imprint
