Review Summary: One of Gimu’s most intriguing releases, sounding different to anything he has put out previously.
The latest release from prolific ambient/drone artist Gimu differs greatly from his previous releases in terms of the context surrounding its conception. Recorded whilst Gimu (Gilmar Monte to give you his birth name) was staying in a city just south of Brazil, miles from his home, Countryside Summer Nightmares is the first Gimu release not to be conceived in the familiar surroundings of the creator’s home town. Perhaps as a result, the album feels somewhat more tense and unsettling than past Gimu releases, which contributes greatly to its appeal.
The atmosphere of the music on Countryside Summer Nightmares very much relates to the circumstances of its creation, capturing the sort of dark ambience one might associate with hot, sleepless nights spent alone, far away from home. Musically, the album has a much more organic feel to it than many of Gimu’s previous albums, with the music feeling a lot more
real when compared to the more ethereal and otherworldly soundscapes of past releases. There is a certain tension and edginess to much of the material, such as in the dense soundscapes and field recordings in Disappearer and the eerie, lo-fi vocal track, It Poured (one of two tracks on the album to feature vocals, a rarity in Gimu’s music), while the intense electronica of the three-part Non-Stop Barking acts almost as a temporary release (or climax) of the tension that builds throughout much of the album.
The album’s stand out moment comes in the form of Over, a ten minute piece that is perhaps out of all the tracks the most typical of Gimu’s music. Much more open and flowing, Over is nowhere near as tense as many of the tracks which preceded it. The song’s gentle first half builds slowly to a familiarly dark but less intense atmosphere which then dissipates as the song returns to lighter, calmer soundscapes. In many ways Over is exemplary of what Gimu does best and suggests that perhaps the album might have benefited from more light ambient sections to augment the denser drone and electronica that dominates the majority of the album’s thirteen tracks.
As a whole Countryside Summer Nightmares is one of Gimu’s most intriguing releases, sounding different to anything he has put out previously. It isn’t as beautiful as A Season in Your Soul nor is it as emotionally transcendent as A Silent Stroll on Sombre St but it was never meant to be either of those things in the first place. Countryside Summer Nightmares is its own beast and although it might not live up to the heights of the aforementioned albums, it provides a fascinating snapshot into the mind and mood of its creator during the time the album was conceived.
