Dark Music Review – Shortwave
Written By Casey Douglass
Anything to do with hidden messages and secret codes usually grabs my interest. When that interest mingles with one of my favourite music genres, the effect is more than doubled! Shortwave, a dark ambient album from Metadronos & Ager Sonus has caused one such marrying. The album description:
For decades, all over the world, people have been trying to transport information and vital data over shortwave-radio-frequencies, unbeknownst to the general public. Those unknown parties used a multitude of encryption systems to their advantage. This album invites you to get a feeling for the mystery of... shortwave transmissions.
One
thing that I really really like about Shortwave is the device
of using spoken numbers throughout various portions of the music.
Numbers can be ‘beaty’ things at the best of times, but the
effect of a voice monotonously reading numbers, or repeating one a few times
before moving onto the next, creates a very nice rhythm that manages
to mingle with the dark drones and beeping sounds in a very pleasing
way. Shortwave, the track, is a prime example of this.
Another
track that I particularly liked was Glowlamp Machine. This track
makes great use of strange yet child-like melodies, yet they jostle
uncomfortably with strong tones and the repetitive intoning of
numbers again. The swelling sounds and sweeping droning created an
image for me of a boffin in his or her lab, code running down green
LED fed computer screens. If you have ever seen the film Pi,
you might know what I mean. If you haven’t, seek it out!
Wireless
Intercept Station is also a great track. More orchestral in nature
and featuring ominous bellchimes and strings like unimpressed bees.
Then the distorted and drained-of-life voice of a man begins to
speak. A great track.
What
you get with Shortwave is a dark ambient album that stays on
theme the whole way through, yet each track is varied enough and
different enough to keep giving the repeated theme in fresh ways to
your ears each time. I give Shortwave 4.5/5. It used numbers in
a way I’d not heard before and every time I listened to it, this
fact re-impressed me over and over.
Head
over to the Shortwave Bandcamp page here for more info.
I was given a free
copy of the album to review.
Album Title: Shortwave
Artist: Metadronos &
Ager Sonus
Released : 6th February
2015
