Review Summary: A dreary, noisy, celtic atmosphere.
This is one of those albums that strike a perfect ground of getting your attention. Sure, it's ambient and drone music, but there's enough changes going on to keep someone engaged. It might not drift from its main melody for 20 minutes or more, but it still builds up and changes throughout. Not to mention that this album is three hours long, which I hear is pretty typical of the duo. Despite the rather egregious run time, Natural Snow Buildings still utilizes the time to make sure none of it is wasted.
The album begins its long spiel with Kadja Bosou. Around eight minutes in the song begins to change more dramatically, with them using different repetitive melodies to keep things moving but still keeping its dreary atmosphere.
Night Coercion hits like a sack of bricks when it comes on. It starts with a very noisy and repetitive melody, but eventually other melodies come to replace it. The noise used here keeps things varied and interesting during the track. It swirls in pitch around the other instruments. After a while it finally settles on a single repetitive melody and noise loop. It feels celtic with the instruments used, such as some type of bass drum and bell. I can’t quite pin it down, which adds to the mystic of the atmosphere.
After a moment of pure silence, Brooms, Trapdoors, Keyholes suddenly pops in out of nowhere. This is definitely more of a contrast to the previous track, painting a more melancholy mood with the vocalizations (I’m quite sure) in the background. There’s a synthesizer that subtly changes in pitch, the noise more dialed into the background. It relies more on subtle shifts most of the time to keep the mood going, although it does change every now and then. It takes its sweet time to change and evolve, but the process is enjoyable.
Gorgons goes for a much calmer vibe, with there being no noise and vocalizations along with the synthesizer. The vibe develops with two wind instrument melodies going over each other. Gives off an unsettling vibe to it all. It kind of drifts off from there but at certain points it briefly goes back to the starting melody.
Mirror Shield continues the melancholic vibes with what I think is a guitar being strummed a ton. The noises that drift to and fro in the mix definitely help make this track a standout. The distortion and warbling pitches create a very convincing emotional atmosphere. It's much more repetitive, but the noise slowly creeps up during the track, suddenly becoming noticeable at a certain point.
The final track. The Great Bull God. The first half of this track tends to kind of drone on with various noises there to carry it. It slowly builds up to a payoff that I would say is worth the entire 2 and a half hour wait. It suddenly changes to a more tribal atmosphere as the nose slowly takes over until the track ends.
Overall, this is an excellent ambient/drone album. There’s never a dull moment in the entirety of this three hour project. The noise is used here with a very deliberate and clear purpose, as without it I feel this album would be much different. Although, if you’re not a fan of noise, they also have other excellent albums that don’t use it. I do like the added touch of the latter tracks having a minute or so of silence in between, it helps being able to process what you just heard.
Recommended Tracks: Night Coercion, Mirror Shield, The Great Bull God, Brooms, Trapdoors, Keyholes.
