Hidden Review
Written By Casey Douglass
I
always enjoy finding dark ambient works that are a little different
to what I’m used to listening to. Hidden by Sound Awakener,
is one that departs from my ambient taste to quite a large degree,
which intrigued and challenged me. Sound Awakener is a solo music
project from Nhung Nguyen, a musician from Hanoi in Vietnam. She has
been working on Sound Awakener since 2011 but has only now begun to
release her work in 2014. In that time, she has developed her own
techniques to bring about the sound that she has created, which tends
to feature machinery, found sounds and other extreme sounds from
musical instruments.
Using intended clicks and distortion to create a hidden space. but not a shelter.
This
short album description is certainly verified upon listening to
Hidden, a seemingly violent and jarring trio of tracks, but to
label it as such and then move on would be to do it a great
disservice.
The Tracks:
Around
Around starts with what
sounds like a printing press thumping away. It isn’t long before
the sound distorts and becomes rawkish with variations in distance
and timing. It put me in mind of what a machine might sound like if
it growled at me. The latter part of the track slips into a quieter
frame, giving the ear respite and the sensation of travel. My own
imaginings saw me flying along an optical cable into the bowels of
the internet, rings of light dancing past my eyes.
Hidden
Hidden put me in mind
of someone hiding in a cupboard in a large abandoned room, the kind
with rough exposed floorboards and cracked window panes. The track
begins with shuffling sounds and movement, as if things outside the
cupboard door are hunting for the hider. They sound insect-like but
technological. Peeking through the crack in the door might reveal one
shimmering with pixels. After a higher pitched sound, the multiple
scuttlings are replaced by larger and more singular sounds, as if the
brood mother has squeezed into the space and has taken up the search
for you.
Diary
This track starts with
an undulating sound wave with hints of guitar and other less easily
recognised noises. I think the best way to sum up this track is to
start with what it made me think of. I had visions of a kitchen,
sunlight shining through the window but some of the room in gloom.
Hanging over the open doorway is one of those bead curtains that
people use to keep the flies out. This track seems to give sound to
the motion of the beads rocking backwards and forwards after
something large has pushed through them, with the exception that
momentum is never lost and they never settle down. It sounds
energetic and swaying, the rhythm very pleasing and strangely
relaxing.
Thoughts
Hidden
has to be one of the more challenging dark ambient albums that I’ve
listened to. Someone unused to dark ambient or less eclectic in music
tastes might have said “It’s just noise!” but it really isn’t.
Whatever the noises and sounds presented to the listener, they create
strange rhythms that draw the mind in and certainly create an effect.
These rhythms are key to what makes Hidden something worth
listening to.
I
really enjoyed listening to Hidden and I’m interested in
hearing more of Sound Awakener’s tracks. If I had to choose a
favourite track, it would have to be Diary as it almost lulled me to
sleep a few times and I kept repeating it as it almost got to the end
each time.
I
give Hidden 4.5/5. It’s not my usual brand of dark
ambient but I am seriously thinking it should be.
Visit
Sound Awakener on Bandcamp here for previews and purchasing options.
I was given a free
copy of the album to review.
Album Title: Hidden
Artist: Sound Awakener
Released : 28th
November 2014
