- -- Release information ----------------------------------------------- -- -
Artist : Jonas Munk
Album : Absorb/Fabric/Cascade
Genre : Ambient
Year : 2015
Label : El Paraiso Records
Cat# : EPR024LP
Source : Vinyl
Bitrate : VBRKbps
Size : 59,2 MB
Runtime : 37:33 min
URL : n/a
- -- Tracklist -------------------------------------------------------- -- -
01. Absorb 15:03
02. Fabric 10:00
03. Cascade 12:30
- -- Release notes ---------------------------------------------------- -- -
There's so much to sing the praises of in this gentle giant
of an ambient record from Jonas Munk. Let's start with
Absorb, which is early morning kraut drone; its synths fade
slowly in, like the rising sun getting incrementally lighter.
Munk sets the pace with a subdued rhythm that acts as the
first part of a days long cycle; he seamlessly ups volume and
intensity, juxtaposing gentility with drama before stripping
away the extra layers to rest on the quietness hes been
studying. Its at this point that the constant comparisons of
Munks work to traditional motorik and krautrock artists feels
overstated: his interest in making emotive, liminal drone is
leading proceedings here, and while he introduces fumbling
effects and a minor climax that recalls both recent Steve
McGuire work and the orchestral post-rock of RachelÆs -- only
synthetic and futurist -- heÆs ultimately crafting a piece
around sustain, not repetition.
On the flip, things are quite stunning indeed, though the
approach is less about background subtleties, and more about
what we infer from the foreground. Or, long story short: itÆs
more accessible. Fabric uses outmoded synth sounds to recall
the strange sci-fi traditionalism of Boards of Canada, the
blaring chords sounding like a prediction we made of the
future in the past. The piece climaxes by converting its
arbitrary, droning pace into a freefall of notes and swirling
effects. Cascade sounds nothing like its title promises, an
extremely stifled passage of ambient that does away with any
kraut influences and takes Munk to the most minimal of places
-- no interacting textures, no warm tones, just a squeaking
synth peaking and fading. The track eventually clamours, in a
haze of estranged hiss and distortion, into a piece of cosmic
ambient Jason Urick would be proud of.
Munk can do so much with so little, and proof of that exists
on this gorgeous knockout of a drone record. He can make
landscapes out of skeletons.
- -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ -- -
KLV is a division of KALEVALA, focusing on all things non-finnish.