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review by Dene Bebbington At first I thought this album is possibly by someone from Scandinavia judging by the album name, however, it's actually by UK ambient musician Roy Nash. The track names are also peculiar, maybe they're anagrams or some kind of play on words. Anyhow, Veror Aesik is over an hour of mainly darkish drone and drifting based ambience with some experimental tracks and interludes. A good reference point is Palmqvist Audio's Reconstruct for the combination of the unusual with more typical ambient motifs. The first piece "Soitil Caf" is a good example of an excursion into experimental realms. Humming and slightly distorted metallic sounds come and go as voices from a space mission are heard as if from a distance between crackles of static. Then, after the second track when you wonder if the whole album is experimental in nature we are taken into more familiar ambient territory in "Sohwia". On this short piece dark drones snake and twist around each other in an unsettling but sonically pleasing way - it's one of my favourite tracks. Many of the tracks feel somewhat oppressive as the listener is taken to unknown places where drones and washes don't give clues to the environment. This disorientation is particularly clever in the piece "Dal" in which some sounds rush in and out like spectres which could be nearby or far away. Another satisfying piece is "Cinveil". Fat washes of sound like barely vocalised breaths keep sighing across the soundscape while shiny reverbing synths add a sense of curiosity. Parallels to Matthew Florianz's Electronic Forest are difficult to avoid here. Things get topical on the final track "Kaahpul" which starts off with gently stirring drones, then about halfway through news reports from the war in Iraq are also heard. On the whole Veror Aesik is a good ambient album of the dark and mysterious kind, and for some people would probably work best if the experimental tracks were skipped over. Roy has certainly succeeded in creating an atmospheric work which is best appreciated in a darkened room with one's undivided attention. |
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