Nov 26
Here’s a blissed out pop song, for once. Still in line with the minimalist aesthetic of Nymphomania, though. 2nd track of the forthcoming EP, In Public, another half an hour or so of continuous rhythm. It’s easily the most diverse, creative and polished of the 3, in my opinion. It’s also the first to feature vocals, although still in limited quantity. It’ll be done in a week or two. Happy thanksgiving.
What’s this? Metal that never once tries to sound ‘tough’; it’s melancholic, forlorn in that windswept black metal way that feels like so cold, but with the none of the “evil” or the posturing. It’s a thick, textured wall of sound, but there is no real aggression. Rough, raw, and low budget but strangely restrained… the band never plays faster than mid-paced, the playing is subdued, simple and tasteful, almost as if out of respect for some kind of loss or death.
If you liked the youthful, emotive, overwhelmed feeling of the first two Opeth records, you must have this immediately. Rarely do such sensitive, romantic artists (with not a violent bone in their bodies) end up creating metal. This album is simpler than “Morningrise” or “Orchid”, though, and also even more rainy in feeling. The fat is trimmed off, but it’s no less of a cathartic experience. It’s really amazing what they can do with a few simple chords strummed in a straight ahead 4/4 rhythm. Beautiful, haunting leads appear often as well. The album is driven by the sound of the guitar. The distortion is warm and thick, but never harsh, and envelops you like the womb. Mikael Akerfeldt of the aforementioned Opeth handles the harsher vocals. His performance is pushed to the back of the mix, which is perfect for this kind of music. His hollow mid-frequencies growls have the same pained immediacy they had on “Morningrise”, and with this he easily compensates for anything he might have lacked in polish and throat control at this time in his career.
The reverberant, chorused ballad “Day” foreshadows the melancholic alt rock the band has made ever since they abandoned metal with 3rd album “Discouraged Ones”. Their later, non-metal material really does possess the same mood as this early material, and it’s obvious the band had already been exposed to the gothic, chronic depression of The Cure and others at this point in time. These days, though, the band often takes the easy way out with tired verse/chorus/verse song structures. On “Brave Murder Day”, the songs average between 5 and 10 minutes, and develop through many beautiful harmonized sections. Because of this “Brave Murder Day” may always be the band’s most mature and ambitious statement, and their crowning achievement.
The heavier tracks are all stylistically similar, which in this case is a good thing, as it nicely creates a strong sense of unifying theme. All the tracks are solid. There’s the eerily nostalgic supernatural fire and beautiful clean guitar tones of the closer “Endtime”, the plodding relentlessness of the 10 minute “Brave”…
In conclusion, this is a fantastic album that crosses several subgenres, from symphonic black metal to melo-death to melancholic alternative rock. If you like your metal more emotive and sentimental, need an album for the Fall months or just can’t get enough of Opeth’s “Morningrise”, you need this album. Really, anyone who appreciates metal that goes for musicality rather than sheer speed or brutality should check it out. It’s a true gem. 5 stars.
Nov 14
The second Nymphomania EP has been completed, titled simply Nymphomania! In sharp contrast to the first EP A Holy Art, this album is a fast paced, energetic beat driven piece of continuous rhythm, around 27 minutes in length. This release is intended to be the thesis or statement of intent of the Nymphomania project, exemplifying a style pure, meditative and calculated and yet also primitive and trance-inducing in its minimalism. I’m effectively taking what I like about trance and other kinds of techno and dance music and making something with it that may or may not end up seeming similar.
1. Nymphomania I - The Pathway to Infancy
2. Nymphomania II - A Watery Shadow
3. Cereal Kisses
4. Mindfulness
5. Apiology
6. Grimmauld
7. Tinker Toys
8. Landshapers
9. Little Yellow Babies
10. We Strut Like Kings Through Nightmarish America
11. Vistas
Nov 7
“A Holy Art”, the first release under my new pseudonym Nymphomania, is an EP of ambient minimalism created with very limited means in a series of intense sessions during a very emotional and eventful period of my life. The songs are built from pulsing, washing synth lines and rhythmic filters. They create rhythmic and emotional spaces with carefully chosen tones. This is my entry into the genre of ambient music, in the classic Eno sense.
It is important to note that, at the time of creation, the process of creation was undertaken with extra-musical intentions, as well. It was my hope that the sounds of the drones could influence the energies of my immediate surroundings. Such extra-musical intentions are more thoroughly described by the words in parentheses in the track titles. The title “A Holy Art” refers to the ancient and sacred practice of creating drone.
1. A Period in Honey (For Focusing of Mental Chaos and Aural Colors whilst on Trial)
2. Morris’ Fireside (For Love in the Liminal Space of the Equinox)
3. Dreaming of my Death (For Drifting into the Void from Despair)
4. Cleansing Time (For the Removal of Unwanted Memories and Energy from the Home)
5. Something About Me (For Bittersweet Reverie)
6. Passion Fairies (For Emily, In Ecstacy)
7. Dale’s Drain Place (For Dale, with Sympathy)
While I have listened to all of Between Interval’s past output, I have never been truly impressed until hearing “The Edge of a Fairytale”, which, ever since seeing its artwork and song titles, has captivated me completely. Always fascinated with the stars and space (”Secret Observatory”), Between Interval now successfully brings you among them, to feel the size and shape of the void. Yet the void seems friendly when this album is playing. It takes the blurry, whooshing resonance of past albums like “Autumn Continent” into a newfound sharp, airy and crisp clarity. The album is so powerfully WHITE and PURE… A truly blank, holy white, blissfully at one with the massive, shining universe. Somehow never harsh or unpleasant, resonant whitewash blots out all other melodic tones, replacing them with rushing, beautiful sound. It’s like a splash of cold water in the face… It has the purity of snow, of mountain air. And yet it seems a creation of celestial or spiritual inspiration more than an ‘arctic ambient’ piece like Biosphere’s “Substrata”. The album seems charged with a strange magical vibrancy, making the title seem quite relevant.
Occasional processed melodic voices flicker in and out the mix in tracks like “Atlantis Lost”, gone before the mind can really even process them. It adds a little lonely urban flavor, reminiscent of Burial’s Untrue or the works of Scanner. The album seems to alternate between personal, introverted sensitivity and a universalized divine bliss. He’s obviously been listening to a lot of Lustmord, as well.
While his music has gotten a great more existential and spacey with this release, Stefan Jonsson, now calling himself Stefan ‘Strand’, is still less patient than an older ambient master like Steve Roach… His tracks are fairly short, and still use conventional synth sounds, loops and rhythmic structures sometimes, although they don’t really have “beats”. They seem almost energetic, and like fellow Scandinavian Biosphere, he doesn’t usually allow himself to drift too far into space, with a few marvelous exceptions, such as the epic “Leviathan”, or “Pillars of Creation”, a truly ecstatic highlight track. Perhaps now, however, I can see “Strand” eventually joining the ranks of Steve Roach and Robert Rich as one of the great ambient masters. He has been lumped in with them in the past, already, but I believe this was a comparison wrongfully made. He still seems like a younger musician to me. This is his “Structures from Silence”, or perhaps even his “Dreamtime Return”.
Other highlights include the absolutely magnificent “Eden In Shadows”, creating some of the most pleasing mental images I’ve ever had from an ambient track. It truly is the sound of the Garden of Eden. The sounds truly seem to evoke a place more lush and full of life than even anywhere on Earth… Warm synth chords resonate with the feelings of these sounds perfectly. It’s Strand’s crowning achievement so far.
In conclusion, this album is a invigorating masterpiece, a blast of spiritual energy and light. Between Interval has become one to watch for me, and this album is why. Recommended for any fan of ambient music. An unconditional 5 stars.
I do expect even greater things from him in the future, seeing as ambient musicians typically age like fine wine.