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Water Is the Sun, man! It's a phrase that
makes no sense yet seems somehow profound, and
thus is the perfect name for as act that
combines two avante-garde ambient artists.
This is the project of Mkl Andersson (who
records as Drekka and has
recordings going back 30+ years on BandCamp) and Adam Parks
(who records as Timber Rattle and as Lightning
White Bison).
Both artists seem to make strange ambient
music, and by strange I mean that it flows
oddly. There was a subgenre called illbient
back a while ago, and when I first read the
description of this act in the press release,
that is what I thought of. But illbient tried
to be unsettling, whereas Water Is the Sun is
just out there. If illbient is a bad trip
watching a horror film, Water Is the Sun is a
nonsensical catatonia that leaves you oddly
rested and invigorated, even though you are
not sure what happened.
This a cassette, two sides, two pieces, each
exactly 22 minutes long, each moving through a
dozen phases.
The sounds are strange samples, echoed
percussion, synth whirrs, and vocal bits
twisted and manipulated. Many of the samples /
vocals sound like a recording of a large group
of people singing, but fuzzy and distant.
Everything moves at a slow pace, some parts
achingly beautiful and others aggressively
noisy.
After about eight minutes of odd wandering
rhythms, side one ebbs out to the sound of
crickets. After a brief interlude, the synths
startup again accompanied by that fuzzy chorus
sample. At about nineteen minutes everything
slowly comes into focus, the voices clearer
and accompanied by intense drumming.
The second track has chanting and slow
ponderous drums, like some dark medieval
event.
This will not appeal to most people – it is
assertively different. However, it is also
very engaging, the sounds flowing in odd
patterns. I love listening to this kind of
stuff. One of the best ambient records I have
heard in years.
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