Encomiast "Mers de Sommeil" CD
[Mystery Sea]
Here's another lengthy dark ambient excursion from this Colorado noise project, and I do believe this is his finest work to date, opening powerfully right away with the subdued yet emotional tides of "Into the Depths of Itself" - built around slow, eerily melodic drones that rise and fall and cascade across the lower levels of the mix with a gentle touch that really works well. This approach remains consistent for a brooding and hypnotic eight minutes before giving way to the thicker and more restrained low-end hums of "Obliviate", which also tops six minutes and tends to be a little more menacing due to its avoidance of the melodic undercurrents. "Reef" continues this same general approach to dark ambient soundscapes with softly swelling drones and a little bit of a bright edge that strikes a balanced between what the preceding two compositions had to offer; while "Somnebula", the longest track at just under nine minutes, takes a very similar road with its lulling repetition - adding in a couple of grazing textures that slide across the foreground from time to time. "Surfacing" comes across as somewhat more robust, what with its heavily reverberated textures filling more of the space surrounding the core of the piece as it slowly strips down to a faint and controlled end. "A Visible Myth of Origin" then returns to the brighter and more melodic stylings of the first track, making for an effective close that adds in just the right amount of movement and activity without disrupting the ease of succession displayed throughout the disc. The CD-R is packaged in a standard jewel case where the layout looks to have been printed from a quality color printer, so even though the release certainly would've been better served to have been professionally pressed, it does look pretty good considering. I definitely enjoy the visuals, which tend to be abstract yet consistent in their use of murky colors and textures that match the tone of the music well. Despite the fact that each track runs longer than six minutes and the individual pieces are very consistent, as is the record as a whole, this is a nicely flowing excursion into hypnotic and suggestive experimental noise that suits my listening tastes quite well. Some of the source sounds date back to the mid-90's, and I'm not sure if that impacts the sound at all, but I certainly appreciate the warm, dense presence that the material puts forth, as it really envelops the listener and feels appropriate for the tone of the album. There's not a great deal to say about the tracks herein since they do tend to build upon the same themes and approaches, but the end result is an enjoyable experience that certainly points to yet more potential from Encomiast. I'm surprised the project hasn't received a slightly wider range of appreciation from various circles within the experimental scene, but hopefully better things are still to come. This is very much worth looking into. (7/10)
Running time - 44:24, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Into the Depths of Itself, A Visible Myth of Origin]
Encomiast - http://www.encomiast.com

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