Double review for Lunar Abyss and Uhushuhu.
Lunar Abyss :: Aikana Uni (Zhelezobeton)
A forest, boisterously Amazonian, at night, on a different planet. Crackling, golden atmosphere. Underscored by low radiation drone, while above, a satellite blinks. Thunking air vaguely reminiscent of the helicopters in Apocalypse Now. Ground underfoot that doesn’t quake but trembles. Evgeny Savenko is the mind dwelling deep in the Lunar Abyss, alternately known as Lunar Abyss Deus Organum (and a host of increasingly convoluted variations), and late one night, he pushed an interesting combination of buttons on his fleet of machinery, hit record and promptly fell asleep. When he awoke, he found a fully-fledged work that only needed its feathers slightly groomed. Aikana Uni, a length of time all balled into one, is raga in layers of sonic eddies, all moving according their own, eccentric rotations. Deep enough into it, it takes on an immanent quality.
Uhushuhu :: Geoscience (Zhelezobeton)
Also from St. Petersburg, Uhushuhu is not only deep in the jungle but submerged in the South Pacific, picking up whale song of a more desperate quality, pining, combining with a living cacophony seemingly more distressed than in nocturnal revelry. And yet the very last thing you can make out, as the opening track “Firm Ground” finally fades out, is a little girl frolicking and calling to Daddy. Geoscience is earthbound rather than extraterrestrial, though uncannier than previous long-player Long Songs Pleasant for Listening. Over a loudly reverberant “Loam Glade,” jet planes soar and a female voice attempts song. The buffeting of an electrified windsock describes the direction and velocity of each gust of “Windbody” in a setting that, despite being obviously urban, is far more serene. In the end, Uhushuhu double back to the unfiltered nature of “Coal Harbour,” frothing breakers, singing seabirds, the organ boom of that huge body of water. Includes a bonus DVDR featuring “special fractal visualization” by VJ B≜H⊗G.
