Acrylic paints and paper art loaded with intrigue, ambient noise and introspection, lo-fi, tape-based pieces in short-form compositions.
Curious washes and blends of textures
A collection of gently cycling sounds of psychological interior electronica, 18 tracks of curious washes and blends of textures, which in physical form comes with hand-made, mixed-media cassette or CD covers and vintage papers also photos, acrylic paints and paper art loaded with intrigue, ambient noise and introspection, lo-fi, tape-based pieces in short-form compositions.
The synergy of the packaging design images and the stringed instruments with woodwinds and exotica music itself is truly amazing, the sound alone is hidden in dark dingy dim atmospheres that are not clear and yet not plain. I get an easy peaceful settling feeling watching sad old movies or images projected onto a surface through a murky lens. A dusty glitchy orchestra bring us in, “Cerium” (4:34) first a pulse of slow waves rising and falling and rising over and over, cerium is an element (Ce and 58 on the periodic tables) a soft ductile and silvery-white metal that tarnishes when exposed to air. The lanthanides rare earth elements, evoked here in this presentation. With strummed strings and circularly plucked strings, “Temples of Cadence” (3:29) eases into the scene, expanding constantly but somehow never getting denser, keeping a natural walking pace, back and forth over and over. Everyone keeps walking along steadily with a spiritual vibe.
“The Lost Lake v2” (4:56) brings cold fire tones that feel slow and dreamy. The feeling is calm on the surface gradually growing more complex, soon a new creature arrives and takes over the center while the lake remains sort of alien sounding just for a moment, I think that it squeaks as if wiping a window with a wet cloth, but maybe it is a young duck or other water bird. All the sound melts into the original lake atmosphere. Emerging with a curious glitchy sounding warbling keyboard tone system, “ad79” (3:15), the synth is joined with accordion drone tones, maybe a little hissing steam. This is slow dream territory seen through a glass, darkly. The title is in some kind of mysterious code, like the next track, “An8kh” (1:39). I hear darker and more murky glitchy tones, all this is slow of course. Later, I think of the space opening up to some sunshine, maybe things are quickening just a wee bit.
Track 6 starts with some possibly backwards tones blending felt hammers on strings with chimes, sometimes forward, sometimes backwards. “Petra7” (2:54), I looked it up, there are many possibilities, one is a city carved from the rocks located in what is now Jordan, and petra means rock or stone in Greek, also Petra is a girl’s name. Now the glitchy tones start to take form, I think of a large mass of rock, such as a ledge cliff cave, or strangely stony ground. I feel like I am waking for a moment from a dream, rustling and turning in my sleep, “Pyramid of the Moon” (4:39) I hear mostly field recordings from the center of the rocks, dark quiet water reverb, strings being touched gently. The title makes me think the music is not coming from the moon, the sound is not huge in the sky, it feels too close. Dreaming, the moon with a pyramid would be a gigantic sound. There is some dark rustling in the background, a little crunchy motion with lots of room above, like inside of a big cave, everything is out of focus and grey.
The glitch is a bit too murky for me to be able to distinguish any instruments, a foggy sound-cloud, “chalco” (3:22) feeling lighter in mood than before. I think the sound is the color of copper, here things awaken steadily but slowly. Then fade. I am still deep in dreamland, a muffled bell, another code song title, “Ob.4” (3:33). Perhaps this is the fourth obscurity. It sounds full with reverb, like tiny bubbles underwater. Abruptly a shrieking beep tone cuts in a few times, just a jot cutting through now and then, otherwise the weaving tones are quietly constructing new lives, using synthesizer tones in the delicious murk. New discoveries fade in, still dreaming I nod and fade. The emerging glitch drones saying dawn is soon, with light increasing. “7.5 ips” (1:57), seven and a half inches per second, why am I never awake in this strange umbraic journey?
The language is obscure and never finds an explanation ::
Next, forms emerge from the gloominess, “Runes” (3:08). The language is obscure and never finds an explanation, more new tones are trying to emerge and there is a gradual lightening. Tell me that there is language in the nearly opaque forms. Still fingers on strings in the gloaming, “Mandala” (1:35), is this in some kind of an oriental tuning? There is no center in this cloud, I hear layers of tones made by fingers on strings, over layers that are sometimes backwards sounding too. After the strings, a keyboard synth in lumpy fog, “ndat3” (3:51) could be a code for awakening in a new way, underwater and slow. Again I am turning over in my sleep and it all merges, the dream with the bedroom atmosphere. I tell you there are things moving in the gloom that are impossible to find in the light. This has now become a loopy place, “The Old Pond” (1:55) with gloomy repeated tones turning circles around and around, all alone with old presences.
The old pond is isolated in the darkness. Deep below the surface of the water, a submarine machine is gently puttering, echoey and wet, “ongkor” (1:12) is quickly over. Rising to the surface I find a sea of glass, it must be very cold but I am okay. “Glacial2” (3:17) I dig recordings made deep below the ice. On top of the ice I feel a delicate motion in darkness joined by gentle fingers touching strings, sinking so slowly, and it might be huge further down. I awake slightly, still a bit loopy mixed with the ice fields. Now come the strange electronic buzzy tones, tiny flutes in the murk, new discoveries in the gloomy atmosphere, “Clef_o6” (4:26) so many sustained tones with unidentified motion in darkness, there is no easy key that works to open up this mystery. Slowly the last track gently floats in, “Blurd” (4:57), gossamer-foggy instruments are hard to identify underwater. I am at peace here, with the constantly changing atmospherics with somber instruments, sometimes increasing reverb in the murky darkness, until the final fade.
For the purchaser: Hand-made, mixed-media CD covers with vintage papers and photos, acrylic paints and paper art. The album was released in November of 2023, limited to 50 CDs and 30 Cassettes. The Cassette packaging combines vintage punch cards and a printed inlay.
12-row/80-column IBM punched cards were widely used in the 20th century, where unit record machines, organized into data processing systems, used punched cards for data input, output, and storage. Ordinary operations required huge stacks of these stiff paper cards.
Obscura is available on Handstitched*. [Bandcamp]
