(04.02.07) Glacial Movements is a new label based in Italy specializing in
atmospheric ambient music and Cryosphere acts as an introduction to
their style and musical ethics. Compiled from a series of quite lengthy
tracks, Cryosphere explores the imagery, tone and presence created by a
range of mostly unknown artists such as Lightwave, Northaunt, Tuu and
Oophoi alongside better known names such as Aidan Baker and Troum.
Glacial Movements’ label head Netherworld also contributes a track.
Billed on their website as “glacial and isolationist ambient,” it
doesn’t take long to see where that tag came from. Northaunt’s “Crocker
Land” fits this theme perfectly; windswept, expansive, un-rushed and
beautiful. Although this music is distinctly icy in tone it is also
gentle and visceral, slowly enveloping you in its imagery and cold
invigorating tones. This whole mood permeates through the album,
sometimes venturing down darker more ominous paths but always steady and
restrained, letting the full picture slowly unfold to the listener. You
might not find rhythms or beats in this music but it doesn’t need it, it
is all about atmosphere and imagery. A track such as “Cryotesk” by
Tho-So-Aa for example is so fluid and serene, even the deep creeping
bassy tones and insistently anxious bleeps can’t distract from the
languid droning texture that flows throughout. Lightwave’s “Proxima
Thule” is the first of the tracks to head in a darker direction, adding
some hi-tech almost glitchy effects and flooding the fluid backdrop with
a tense cinematic air of foreboding. This mood is carried through to
“Silent Writing” by Tuu who use low bassy drones and minimal synth tones
to create a spacious wilderness of sound that could be beautiful or
threatening depending on your interpretation. Troum’s “Giascei” however
opts for epic rumbles and mammoth groans alongside tiny microscopic
sounds that build tense atmosphere as if warning of an approaching alien
swarm in a remote polar wasteland. It is left to Aidan Baker to lift the
mood with the gently drifting “Beneath the Ice,” a track with an
optimistic outlook and positive radiance that ends in a slightly more
sinister tone. Netherworld, the mysterious label head of Glacial
Movements, contributes “Kryos,” a track with a melancholy icy feel and
the occasional huge bassy boom.
Cryosphere is an interesting album in that it is primarily a serene
well-crafted compilation of floating ambient tracks but there is also an
almost hidden dark undercurrent of impending terror. It is almost like
an expedition to a remote polar wasteland that is being stalked by
danger unknown. A slightly sinister tone underlies the tracks as if
watching and waiting for an opportunity to reveal itself. In that
respect it is very cinematic and atmospheric, adding hidden depth to the
justly tagged “glacial and isolationist” nature of the music.
Cryoshere is out now on Glacial Movements.
