Sketches from Afar is strongly introspective and spiritually melancholic dronescaping release which admits some lovely dreaming arrangements.
The volume settings folder is an adventurous and devotional drone ambient project formed by the multi-instrumentalist and sound arranger Möbelstück Beckmann. I discovered his music incidentally on a blog (an extract from his recent EP ‘Heidelberg’). Those long sustained droning chords, reverb-like motives, mystical lysergic electronic spookiness and krautrockin’ progged-out inflections absolutely enthralled my capacity of listening. I was definitely curious to hear more, then I discovered his Bandcamp page which offers very special and uniquely packaged limited CD editions. Beckmann’s personal artistic touch is at every step of the process. He distributes himself his releases and makes great offers considering the impressively high quality of his work. Sketches from Afar is his last opus to date.
This hauntingly minimal droning post-rockin’ effort is in the direct musical path followed by his previous releases but here the mathy instrumental ambiences are less orchestrated to let the place to incredibly evocative and amazing blurry dream-like guitars and fluid-like sound patterns. The ambiences alternate soothing and slowly evolving sound sculptures with more erratic cinematic sonic pictures. Sketches from Afar is strongly introspective and spiritually melancholic dronescaping release which admits some lovely dreaming arrangements. An almost metaphysical atmospheric music linked to a religious sense of immortality. The sinuous and emotionally charged guitar sound ambiences can slightly remind the work of Troum (at their more detached-suspenseful moments), Tim Hecker, Aidan Baker and Eluvium. Among the most powerful, generous and emotionally compelling ambient-drone releases of the year. Exceptional.
Sketches from Afar is available here.
