Sempervirens – Dirge of the Dying Year
1 rating since posting on Sunday, September 28, 2008
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STYLE A stream of evolving, experimental ambient terrains. Dirge of the Dying Year presents a series of detailed, shadowy ambient environments that flow naturally from one state into another. Field recordings fracture steady synthetic textures; interference, indistinct disturbances and peculiar shufflings hazy presences emerging variously from the omnipresent dense sonic fog. Even drones both tonal and atonal stretch into indefinite planes of sound, often somewhat muffled or distant – thick with atmospheric density. In places melodic forms arise as if encountered incidentally, captured in passing before lost once more to distance - far off transmissions, dimly recalled, musical fragments, a lone guitarist idly fingering. A voice murmurs faintly, a few words, is gone. Metallic clinks, tinkling chimes, a tolling bell, creaking patterns, liquid burbles and bubble motion – just some of the characters caught up in the constant stream. MOOD In keeping with the title Dirge of the Dying Year is both weighted with gloom and touched with beauty. The over-riding tone being one of dusky density – sonic murk and careful weathering spreading an ashen shroud as far as the ear can see. Everything has soft edges, the soundscape having eroded away into crumbling decay and lonely grey. The album though is not so much dark or uncomfortable as hazy – in places the warmth of the sun filters through the cloud mass or the air thins out suffieciently allowing the listener to focus for a while on the different elements within earshot. ARTWORK The album comes in a jewel case with additional visual inserts. The artwork throughout the case is engrossing and attractive – as moody and emotive as the music. The track list is found on the rear as is usual – black font against the bright red, yellow, orange of the imagery here (which I will come back to presently). Most appealingly the package contains a series of eight artworks each from a different graphic artist inspired by one of the tracks on the disc. These are gorgeously impressionistic affairs and interact delightfully with the music if held in the hand and absorbed whilst listening. Damaged photomontages, heavy oil paintings, mixed media combinations, graphic elements alongside photographic material. Abstract and figurative, from pastoral to apocalyptic. These images have also been taken and combined on the rear cover into a single construct capturing something of the project overall – fiery, textured sky, stark silhouette of a tree, a lone hazy figure, graphic eye. OVERALL The album comes as a limited edition jewel case package of only 300 copies released via New Age Dawn/Stellar Auditorium Productions. Sempervirens (meaning evergreen from the Latin, semper - always, and virens - green) is Estonian musician Margus Mets, an artist having honed his skills through the creation of a considerable catalogue of mostly unreleased material – six albums and other uncompiled compositions to date. Dirge of the Dying Year comes as the pinnacle of this previous material – an ambitious and visionary project. Margus Mets is clearly more than a musician as one of the images within is credited to himself. WHO WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM The sound of this album calls to mind the blurry, crepuscular feel of Tor Lundval, the experimental freedom of Alio Die. You will likely enjoy this release if you like dark ambient music, since although the music is not primarily bleak or brooding, it does share much in common with the genre – sombre, minimal, often melancholy. Have a listen to some tracks at The Sempervirens Myspace page. - Morpheus Music , posted 09/28/08 |
Sempervirens – Dirge of the Dying Year was recommended for:
- Tribe: The Moon
- Tribe: !..ambient music..!
- Tribe: "dark" ambient music
