Encomiast - Transit Bed (c) 2007 Gears Of Sand
Artist....: Encomiast
Album.....: Transit Bed
Type......: Album
Source....: CDDA
Tracks....: 05
Genre.....: Ambient
Label.....: Gears Of Sand
Catalogue#: GOS27
Encoder...: LAME 3.97
Quality...: VBR kbps / 44.1KHz / Joint-Stereo
URL.......: http://www.discogs.com/release/1114729
Tracklist:
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01 Rains Pass By 12:59
02 Not The Time To Be Inarticulate 05:03
03 Doubt Has A Shadow 13:40
04 Homespun Dress 11:27
05 A Curious Imperfection In Nature's Powers Of Continuity 05:16
Total:61,7 MB / 48:25 min
Release Notes:
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Encomiast is the dark ambient project of Ross Hagen, from Colorado in
the USA. Transit Bed is already the sixth full length by the project,
and it is released on Ben Fleury-Steiner's Gears of Sand label.
Experience often shows in quality when it comes to ambient, and this
album is certianly no exception. Hagen expertly combines acoustic
instruments and samples with electronic music. While Transit Bed is not
an accessible album by any means, it holds enough treasures to satisfy
the patient ambient listener.
"rains pass by" is perhaps the least remarkable of the five tracks, and
the album starts out modestly. The first few minutes are passed with a
slowly developing drone, which is nevertheless very rich in sound, with
many subtle effects. Halfway through, things get a bit more varied,
with many chages of sound texture, very faint manipulated voice, and
similar things. The second, shorter, track is more pronounced, with a
clear rhythm and jingling bells. Everything sounds far from dry,
though; Encomiast may use a lot of 'real' sounds and instruments, it's
all presented in such a way that it is quite otherworldly, and that is
a very strong point of this album.
On to the middle track, which is also the longest. Obscure drones
slowly merge with deep bells, glitchy effects, fire samples(?), string
instruments, and a host of other sounds. Very rich and dark! At the end
of the track, we hear the ghostly voice of a woman singing a folk song.
This continues seamlessly into the start of "homespun dress", where a
very detailed deep rhythm is introduced. Tracks like this would
certainly not disappoint fans of projects like Halo Manash. The final
track is another great one, recorded live with a whole band, using
electronics, flute, gangsa (balinese metallophone) and piano strings. A
dark track that's unlike anything I've heard before and a great way to
end a strong album like this one.
This is not an album that gripped me on the first listen, but as time
passed, it has grown on me immensely. I haven't heard previous work by
Hagen, but if it's anything like this, it's well worth searching for.
In any case, Transit Bed is an album that has a very rich sound and
varied compositions, and even manages to sound original among the
plethora of ambient projects out there. In short, anyone with an
attention span longer than the latest bubblegum hit and an interest in
dark electro-acoustics should get this.