If ambient music reflects the light of gently falling snow, drone represents the shift from gorgeous to dangerous: white-out conditions, howling winds, frigid temperatures, rattling pipes and overworked heaters. Not that beauty is lacking from drone; the genre finds beauty in darkness, in the midst of the tempest and in its aftermath.
We love the cover of Kali Malone‘s All Life Long so much that we’ve used it as our featured image, even though we could only fit one white word on it. A similar principle holds true for the album; after a lovely choral introduction, Malone dives into pipe organ and brass quartet, scoring the season’s cool expanses (Ideologic Organ, February 9).
Also delving into sacred music, we find Maria W Horn entering the Panoptikon. The music began as an installation in the discontinued White Dove Prison of Luleå, Sweden, where until 1979 prisoners (which included women who miscarried) were monitored, isolated and tortured. This makes Horn’s music especially harrowing, even when the choir takes control (XKatedral, February 2). Unglee Izi‘s oeuvre displays an incredible range of dynamic contrast, from pure pipe organ to wide swaths of abrasive noise. The Wall of the Altar Star is a single 68-minute piece, composed in church and studio, so we expect it to split the difference (Mirae Arts, January 12). Sarah Belle Reid is set to make a big splash with the expanded version of MASS, which incorporates trumpet, flugelhorn, household objects and toys, but amasses an impressive density as it develops. The human element is never lost, but the body seems to be at war with the machine, reflecting the dual definition of the title (March 1).
Where does the artist end and the A.I. begin? We’ll be asking this question with increasing frequency in the coming years. Mexico’s Hexorcismos is ahead of the curve, having “built a tool called SEMILLA.AI based on neural audio synthesis that could not only mimic his sonic fingerprint but transform it into another.” On MUTUALISMX, he invites Ale Hop, KMRU and others to experiment with the A.I. as collaborator or tool, and to join forces with other collaborators if so inspired. The results are fascinating in their diversity (Other People, February 15). Another Mexican artist, Concepción Huerta, takes listeners on a journey to the center of the earth. On The Earth Has Memory. Buchla, Nord and tape manipulation operate as the igneous and metamorphic forces. The cover photo was taken in an obsidian mine; more images can be found within, a keen attention to detail (Elevator Bath, February 2).
EUS returns after a long hiatus with Vergel, having lost nary a step. The mood is mournful, the music less oppressive than elegiac (BLWBCK, January 26). The cover of Rafael Toral‘s Spectral Evolution is much more cheerful than we’re used to seeing in this genre; perhaps the artist just likes birds, or can’t help but provide a little hope in the midst of despair. The chords are bright, and birdsong is imitated on “Intro + Changes” (Drag City, February 23). Already having a dark 2024? Dronny Darko & ProtoU‘s Acoustics of Shadows is released today, adrift in occluded atmospheres, like figures behind drawn curtains (Cryo Chamber, January 2).
It’s Not Quiet in the Void, declares Annie Aries, with poetic text by Mimi Kind. The album travels into the abyss and out, patiently examining tonal clusters and galactic chords (Everest, January 26). Point of Memory‘s Void Pusher may begin in ambient fashion, but by the album finale “Most of a Murder,” it sounds like an onslaught. Much of the music comes from physical reactions to “super bass” being played in the room, rattling the other instruments, just as life comes at us hard and leaves us shaken (Misanthropic Agenda, January 26).
Room40 continues its hot streak with a slew of drone releases this winter. The first album to appear will be JWPaton‘s Submerged, whose poetry-inspired titles include “Gardeners of the Apocalypse.” The theme: civilizations built on the bones and detritus of others (January 12). Ben Glas‘ Fugal States is more tonal, unspooling in slow deviations and developments, occasionally landing on synchronistic chords (January 30). Yuko Araki is remixed by Lawrence English and more on IV X VI (Re:visions), with timbres that touch upon ritualistic and black metal (February 9). David Grubbs & Liam Keenan offer sprawling guitar duets on Your Music Encountered in a Dream, billed as “the dark side of the pillow” (February 23). For more from Room40, see yesterday’s Ambient preview!
Cyclic Law has three albums scheduled for January 12. Grand Loge‘s Unruh is a ritualistic set conceived as the score to the book Soliloquium in Splendor, by Oksana and Gil Prou. Dark Ages‘ Twilight of Europe is the reissuing of a classic dark ambient/doom album, while TeHôm‘s dark ambient/industrial Legacy boasts 4AD-style artwork, a guest appearance by Rob Bees Fisk and a scary reconstruction of Arvo Pärt.
Vertex Loop is as dramatic as it looks: a series of explosions sparked by modular synth and electric guitar. These Cataclysmic Events may be as physical as the eruption of a volcano or as personal as a battle with depression; either way, the listening experience is immersive (GRAPH, January 26). Doom drone can be found on David Wallraf‘s The Commune of Nightmares, which uses tape loops to convey a sense of descending disaster. His hypothesis: that not only, nightmares, but their content, are universal (Karlrecords, January 26). Fragments is a true outlier, with music by Massimo Pupillo, poems by Gabriele Tinto and spoken word by Roger Ballen. This dark world is enhanced by equally dark photography, a nest of disturbing images (Unsound, February 15).
Richard Allen
a closer listen 