bvdub & Netherworld :: Equilibrium (Glacial Movements)

The duo explores not so brooding sonic textures in favor of fragile, intense, and transportive soundscapes of calm beauty, employing different sound sources from organic to electronic with the addition of grainy noise dynamics.

Acoustic timbres soaked in blurred walls of sound

This opus soberly or solemnly called Equilibrium, is a collaborative album between two notorious and distinctive figures of the minimal ambient scene: Netherworld (founded and headed by Alessandro Tedeschi, owner of Glacial Movements Records) and bvdub (a hybrid sound art, post-pulsating techno and emotional isolationist drone ambient project of Brock Van Wey that I’ve started following since his first album published by Home Normal.) The duo explores not so brooding sonic textures in favor of fragile, intense, and transportive soundscapes of calm beauty, employing different sound sources from organic to electronic with the addition of grainy noise dynamics. Harmonized vocals and processed-morphed acoustic timbres soaked in blurred walls of sound represent the originality and driving sonic force of the album. It’s difficult to pick one track in particular as everything sounds equally touching and engaging; fans of distorted post-ambient iciness and microtonal music by Marcus Fjellström, Simon Scott, Lawrence English (et al) will find something to consider and easily appreciated. Other listeners can be simply soothed by the reversed audio construction and emotional grandeur of the album.

Equilibrium is available on Glacial Movements. [Bandcamp]