Dark Music Review – Different Streams
Written By Casey Douglass
Different Streams is a
collaboration between international ambient artists EUS, Postdrome &
Saåad. The music was recorded in a variety of locations: London,
Costa Rica, Malaysia, China, Singapore and France, between February
and June 2014. It has an electric string based sound which is quite
novel from my own dark ambient listening experiences.
The Tracks
Dervish
Dealer
Electric strings start the track off as other background noises and
tones fade in, before they all boil in a pot of one single strong
tone, resonating and reverberating with each other. Imagine a massive
enclosed stone space and this track might be how things would sound
if someone took an amp in there and turned it up to 11. It softens
towards the end, becoming a deep rhythm that melds well with the next
track.
Bitter
Truth
This track thrums into life on the back of prolonged drones, beats
and distortion, the sound becoming deeper and more “fleshed out”
as the track progresses. The mental image I enjoyed whilst listening
was someone sitting at a desk writing, possibly myself, a colossal
tidal wave rising up above me in slow-motion, getting higher and
higher, the sunlight catching the surface and sending hot electric
squiggles of light through the spray. I guess I saw it as a metaphor
for the death that will find each of us one day but that we never
truly see coming until it arrives. I really liked Bitter Truth for
giving me this image.
Wait
A quiet hum and distant echoes begin this track, the distorted sounds
of a radio whispering in darkness as other tones and beeps mingle to
create an empty space, yet one that holds pent-up aggression. This
arrives with the first strong tone and an almost whistling noise
proceeding it. This is not a happy place, and not somewhere you would
feel safe to wait. Voices emerge later into the track, adding a whole
other ghostly aspect to things.
The
Only Path
Strong strings start this track before being joined by a deeper
drone, two different rhythms mingling to create a fascinating whirl
of sound. What sounds like supersonic jets shooting past fizz from
ear to ear as the music increases in intensity. The title of the
track mentions a path; my impressions are more of a journey coming to
an end, or failing where the traveler falls. The latter part of the
track fades to a more mellow piano noted ending as things still shoot
over head.
Snowfall
An insect-like creaking intro moves on to a piano backed mix of eerie
vocals and chittering things with strings. It brought to mind a
strange battlefield covered with unusual bodies, armoured,
fantastical, and all as dead as each other, snow beginning to dust
each one as the battle vanishes over a nearby mountaintop. Sad and
mournful. I enjoyed the mix of the high backing and harsh primary
sounds.
Section
16
Nature sounds meet a
repeating beat that draws the listener deeper into the track. It
conjured for me the image of an abandoned building in the
countryside, the failing light of evening helping to show up the
flashes of strange works coming from the shattered windows. Vocals
join with a low tone that sounds a lot like a horn that might be
blown as the gates of hell prepare themselves to open. Bizarre
shadows flit over the walls, drawn to the dancing lights still
obscured by the structure. A deep rumble begins to shake the ground,
the world holds its breath. All falls silent as an airy drone winds
down.
Thoughts
I enjoyed listening to Different Streams. As I stated in the
intro above, the string-based sounds work well with other staples of
the dark ambient genre, somehow adding a lightness and a darkness to
the general sound at the same time.
I give Different Streams 4.5/5 and I hope EUS, Postdrome &
Saåad will get together again in the future and produce another
collaboration like this one.
I was given a free
copy of the album to review.
Album Title: Different
Streams
Artist: EUS, Postdrome
& Saåad
Additional Violin on
Dervish Dealer: Nik Koniwzski,
Label: Soft Records and
Grains of Sand
Mixed and Mastered by:
Byron Christodoulou
Album Art: Charlie
Floyd
Layout and Design:
Romain Barbot
Released : 23rd
February 2015
