Dark Music Review – Absence of Motion
Review Written By Casey Douglass
Album blurb: Alphaxone is back with his third album on Cryo Chamber, a truly moving experience with smooth reverbs, multi-layered ambience and intricate subtle compositions. Alphaxone sets a new bar for himself when it comes to production quality, recommended for spacefaring audiophiles.
It didn't take much
listening to Alphaxone's Absence of Motion before I came to
see the title as a little inaccurate; the soundscapes and
compositions therein seemed to me to carry a great amount of motion,
subjectively at least. Never one to let titles or track labels get in
my way however, I let my own dark narrative form from track to track,
embarking once more on yet another dark ambient safari.
The Tracks
Intro
– Bird song and what sounds like falling rocks, accompanied by a
hanging airy drone and distortion get the album off to an interesting
start. The various sounds gave me the impression of what it might be
like to walk into a hidden valley somewhere in a mountainous region,
the sounds of footsteps aiding this impression magnificently. It
seems however, that it is a valley that is as much aware of the
listener as the listener is of it.
Appearance
– An insectoid vibration joined by muted thumps, whistlings and
skitterings as the listener espies the denizens of the valley for the
first time, strange and fleeting in the mist.
Long
Eternity – Digital artifacts, much like those seen in badly
error-corrected video, flicker in dark caves that loom in the
distance, a deep drone and tinkling chimes energising the air with
strange notes. This track has a melancholy tint, and the tonal
quality seems to change near the midpoint.
Space
Continuum – Crickets and whistling are joined by effects that sound
a little like wind, all hinting at a vast space within the cavern
system that lies beyond that cave. A resonant tone sounds near the
midpoint, flutish in sound, creating the impression of space
shifting, like the glinting sun picking out the edges of some strange
spacecraft in an area that had otherwise looked empty.
Dark
Geometry – A dark drone with distant rasping sounds. A blending of
the soundscape that gives a prolonged “Ohm” effect. The
spacecraft sits in deepest black, all strange energies and angles. Notes give the impression of it beginning to come alive with lights.
Celestial
– Wind chimes and another fluty sound meet with a thrumming noise.
A high-pitched ringing like that of a finger run around a crystal
glass joins, all creating the impression of activation or initiation.
Inner
Horizon – A water/static sound is accompanied by footsteps and
chittering birds. The spacecraft blinks out of existence and now you
find yourself in a strange alien desert, a looming drone and strange
noises your reward.
X-Land
– A vibrating bass and rattling rhythm meets more
digital/electronic sounds as the listener meets the natives of this
new and strange location.
Close
– A bass tone switches between each ear as rippling ruffles buffet
the listener. You are led to a strange and wonderful tent, therein
bid to lay down, the sound of strange breezes toying with the canvas lulling you to sleep
amidst a pleasing drone.
Thoughts
Absence
of Motion is a dark ambient album that revels in creating an
absorbing sense of space and location, the various drones, chimes and
ambient sounds painting the soundscape in some very alluring dark
colours. The tracks are tinted with the taste of the alien, the
exotic, and also the familiar in the sense of the few sounds that
seem familiar, such as birdsong and wind chimes. However you look at
it (or should that be listen), Absence of Motion certainly
takes the listener on a mental adventure, no matter what the nature
of the images conjured in the imagination might be. This, for me, is
something that I prize highly above anything else and I am happy to
find another dark ambient album that achieves this so fully. It's
with this in mind that I give Absence of Motion 4.5/5.
It
is also at this late stage that I realise that the title, Absence
of Motion, might just as easily refer to how little movement the
listener will make while relaxing and drifting off to this musical
creation.
Visit the Absence of
Motion page on bandcamp here for more information and prices.
I was given a free
copy of the album to review.
Album Title: Absence of
Motion
Written and Produced:
Mehdi Saleh
Label: Cryo Chamber
Mastering and artwork:
Simon Heath
Release Date: 25 August
2015
