Orrery - Nine Odes To Oblivion (2008)
Indeed – as the creator states, this has a touch of Blazebirth Hall about it. The recording although lo-fi and rough is incredibly clear. What strikes me immediately is the peculiar guitar tone which contributes so well to that lo-fi effect. The guitars sound as if the clear and distorted parts have been separated into 2 distinct layers. The distorted layer made distant and crackly whilst the clear layer brought to the foreground and amplified. The result is Black Metal as it would sound on early 1960’s equipment – if one can imagine say George Martin ever getting into that sort of thing. The fact that these are environment/room recordings is therefore quite a striking one. The album sounds surprisingly good.
The music is epic, distant and melancholy instrumental Black Metal that aside from the aforementioned Blazebirth, at least to me does not have a precedent in anyone’s earlier works. The lack of vocals accentuates the feeling of detachment from the audience, which is very pleasing. This release is thus made more difficult to get into and requires many a listen to understand.
I think that this album needs to be listened end-to end without stopping. I have been given a copy of the tape master which has 2 long tracks – one per side. This too is very fitting because it forces the listener to consider the work as a whole rather than a succession of tracks. Naturally it was not done in one take – the electric pieces are intertwined with acoustic performances and some rain and wind samples have been added to a very pleasing atmospheric effect. As the creator pointed the locations these were recorded in – misty peaks towering in the distance he explained that gusts of the real wind can be heard in the recordings as low thumps in the microphone. They decided to add synthesized wind, which would be more familiar to the average listener and thus achieve the desired effect.
The album finishes with a synthesizer piece akin to some of the ambient works of Aphex Twin, at least having recently heard it, it made me think of him immediately.
Overall - an outstanding minimalist, lo-fi album from some very inspired people. At the time of writing it has not yet been released, but I recommend it highly – once it becomes available.
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