One thing to note is that it can be a fucking quiet record; lots of passages of sound are quite content in sitting in the background.
One thing to note is that it can be a fucking quiet record; lots of passages of sound are quite content in sitting in the background.
(Miasmah) http://www.konkurrent.nl
Ah! Kreng! A truly monstrous record from the Belgian Lord of Gothicke suggestion. There is a brilliant theatricality about pretty much all of Pepijn Caudron’s music that really grabs you. And, yet again it’s an intense experience; the moreso this time, as the LP is in some ways a record of some difficult times for Caudron. What is noticeable here, that you don’t really get on Grimoire, say, is a different ‘sense’ of space and texture; things feel more rounded and less suffocating, airy and filmic even; though (I would guess that) the approaches to composition are broadly similar.
One thing to note is that it can be a fucking quiet record; lots of passages of sound are quite content in sitting in the background. Yes, penultimate track The Summoning has those Belgian Nazgul Amenra guesting, but the track can be a bit like listening to something by Sibelius, or Van der Graaf Generator.
For one, what sound like ‘real instruments’ are all over The Summoner like a rash, and that gives it a pronounced, “classical” feel. The strings (and what sounds like a brass section) build up a real sense of unease early doors on tracks like Denial and Anger (which also have this Stockhausen-like sense of dislocation, or displacement) and Depression. The spaciness, or even brittleness of the sound on the opening tracks is really noticeable, things shift and sway subliminally and undercurrents or cross patterns move through the music like sand driven along a moonlit, windswept beach. When Amenra really get going on the The Summoning, the shock of the growling guitars is like being dragged into a blast furnace. Further there’s a great sense of relief by the end with the thoughtful, piano-led Acceptance. It’s a tangible softening of the atmosphere. Of course, it’s a staged moment (look at the song titles, and you can see the path marked out) but it’s still a very satisfying moment.