Crowhurst – “Aghoree”
Describing noise or ambient music can be a really challenging task for a music reviewer. For one, a reviewer that is used to reviewing music crafted by more conventional means (such as myself) is forced to describe something vastly more abstract. And, I think it really tests the reviewers skills of visual description. To me, ambient/noise is a very visual genre of music. The way the sounds are crafted and string together can really put a vivid image or scene in your mind as you listen. “Aghoree”, the new full length from the noise/dark ambient collective, Crowhurst, is an excellent visual album. The project is spearheaded by Jay Gambit, and features contributions from several other noise artists. Everything from synths, to electric guitar, to flute, to a vibrato’d bass was used to craft the sounds on “Aghoree”.
The album places the listener in a very stark, desolate setting. Unassuming at times, but also ever changing. You as the listener are put in place where the tone and atmosphere can change from song to song. Like a traveler traversing a strange world, coming across different environments. Some of the songs on here could be considered beautiful and dreamlike. The song “Ghost Tape 10”, for example, has echoey wooden percussion and swirling, spiraling synths buried underneath. It sounds organic, and like something out of a Hayao Miyazaki film. From song to song, the volume, distortion, and intensity changes from minimal synth ambience to distorted bass drones. But overall, the general tone of the rest of the album is bleak, and vast. I’m reminded of barren environment after a nuclear fallout. A lot of the tracks just creep along with deep, distorted synths slithering underneath tight and fuzzy synth tones. The story that’s created in my head while listening to this is not a happy one, and the protagonist is doomed from the beginning. Lonely, and desperate, looking for something to keep his sanity. The last track, “Modern Living On A Savage Planet” is the perfect ending. The sound is thick, and foggy, the synths sound like the wind blowing as the protagonist slowly walks throughout the blackened land, alone. “Aghoree” is a cinematic collection of various kinds of ambient visuals and sounds. It’s dark, beautiful, and dream-like, and I highly recommend it.
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