What was, not long ago, a relatively small scale forthcoming releases roster for the Sending Orbs label consisting of a new three part EP series and a full length album from Blamstrain, has suddenly blossomed into a wealth of exciting full length releases. Sending Orbs must inspire and encourage its artists a great deal: Kettel’s EP has become the full length 19 track album My Dogan, Secede’s Vega Libre EP is now scheduled alongside an additional full length album release, Blamstrain’s Disfold has been delayed so that he can continue to refine it before release, and the label has signed and released a new album by Yagya, known previously for the critically acclaimed and now highly sought after Rhythm of Snow album.
With Sending Orbs employing a great talent like Jeroen Advocaat to provide the artwork, not to mention the complete re-skinning of the website itself each new release, it is no wonder that the music they release becomes inexorably tied to the sleeve art. Advocaat is able to effortlessly conjure imaginary worlds with a particular flavor that matches the music perfectly: there’s the verdant fantasy world of Tryshasla, the soft edged but futuristic purple sci-fi cityscapes of Disfold, the spiky and gem-studded surrealism of Funckarma’s Elaztiq Bourbon 5 and now, for Will I Dream During the Process?, an epic oceanic world inspired by Greek legend and myth.
“Wind and Thunder” kicks off the album perfectly, opening with multiplied choral pads (something of a staple on the album) that extremely slowly fade up from nothingness, building to a crescendo as they are slowly joined by further strings, bursts of scything electronics, a driving, thudding beat and rolling layers of FX. “Choose” takes up the mantle in a similar but more powerful and driving way, pelted by rain, warmed by rising humidity and driven by more pumping beats and salt shaker hi-hats.
These themes are then repeated throughout much of the album. Will I Dream During the Process? is heady and intoxicating, awash with close atmospheres and panoramic coastal and undersea vistas that ensnare the senses. It’s hard not to be dazed or even hypnotized by many of the pieces here, the aptly titled “We Lose Ourselves” seemingly designed to achieve precisely this objective with it’s swooning, perfumed pads accompanied by the gentle singing of a nearby siren.
All this glorious ambient excess is all well and good, but the miasma of sweeping choral samples, roiling waves of foamy FX and wind-swept, vaporous pads can become almost suffocating in the large doses prescribed here. What also quickly becomes apparent is the materials unsuitability to headphones as a listening medium; Yagya’s soundstage is huge, designed to transport the listener to the realms of the gods. Consequently, this material benefits enormously from being heard through speakers to fully realize the scale of the album’s all-encompassing soundscapes.
That said, some of the pieces here are simply exquisite regardless of playback medium. The deeply melancholy “A very long daydream” combines hissing energies and blasts of pressurized steam with stratospheric strings and choral washes and a muffled, heartbeat like bass rhythm. The closing track “When they stood, they let down their wings” is a perfect example of the personification of tranquility the album strives to achieve: glorious, sun-drenched pads and washes beam prismatic colours through the spray of waterfalls onto shimmering, crystal wind-chimes before slowly fading and giving way to warm rhythmic undercurrents that play the album to its conclusion.
Another very strong entry from the Sending Orbs label, Yagya’s Will I Dream During the Process? is an excellent slice of ambient electronica that despite its occasionally excesses is nevertheless an excellent follow up to Rhythm of Snow.
Will I Dream During the Process? is out now on Sending Orbs.
