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The alliance of Parhelion + Zac Keiller pulls you inexorably into dark swishes of sound. Their CD Farthest North (43'13") delivers seven tracks that slowly chill with down dark pleasures of poetic indirection. Inspiring a deep shiver Farthest North feels like a closed independent environment. Lacerating winds sweep across gently rising metallic textures, while reverberant crystalline tones resound over a crushing, rumbling sonic architecture. Occasionally within this gray sound storm we are reprieved by coruscant chords of arctic brightness - to prove that this drone-zone is not entirely without consonance. There is no easy way out of this music, as the journey into this collaboration offers adventure. The shifts and shocks prod the mind, surprise the ear, and alarm the subconscious - where darkness is always waiting. Whisking listeners to a little understood land the disquieting strangeness of Farthest North conquers a broad sonic territory with precision and power. Ancient philosophers hid their true arguments beneath surface language. Some coded their message simply to encourage curiosity. At the core of this frozen ambient work is a message. From out of the howling plains of nowhere this duo knows the exact direction their exploration will take - and hope to intrigue, not baffle the listener.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 18 December 2014 |
