|
Closing The Eternity
CD (ltd. 300) |
The Russian project Closing The Eternity hardly needs an introduction. Since the beginning of its activity 15 years ago, in 2001, it has released a good amount of recordings on various respected labels both in Russia and abroad. In its music the project aims to digress from everything earthly and mundane, bringing attention to the phenomena and processes lying outside of the realm of human existence.
The material of this album was recorded back in 2004 and has long been awaiting the right moment for manifestation. It seems as if this work was specially created for the Muzyka Voln label (the title of which translates as "music of waves") as these two words describe it best. Three long tracks flowing one into another dissolve the listener's attention in endless tides of gentle electronic ambience. An absolutely pacifying and tranquil work imbued with a majestic contemplative atmosphere.
The artwork of the album features a series of photographs by Arseniy Vinovarov made literally on the edge of the Earth - at the shore of the Arctic Ocean, where one unwillingly faces the inhuman flow of time, where eternity meets infinity…
Reviews
There are plenty of different recordings of ambient music in this world, perhaps a full ocean, where it’s so easy to be sunk, but the Forever And A Day, the album of Closing The Eternity project exists on this planet as a solid artifact, which can engage both sophisticated listeners and collectors.The album consist of only 3 tracks so as the first and the last one continue about 30 minutes and the second one is a tier between them.
It starts with a main track which is named after the album Forever And A Day, here the sound starts from a distant bastion and approaches slowly, unwrapping itself on the way, getting closer and distinct with every second. Vibrations of astral sea are advancing implacably towards the seashore of our consciousness. Endless beautiful and engaging process, one instant and these long hypnotizing waves begin wiping the borderds of inside and inside off.
In The Back Of Beyond – a linking track as if it was a bridge between two worlds over the abyss, it requires slicing carefully along the way. I wouldn’t name this recording as an ambient of outer space, most likely there is a connection with primordial nature before our times, the roots of these sounds go somewhere really far in ancient dreams and mythology of the Earth.
In the last track Alongside The Infinity there is a feeling of being into a wildlife reserve, fairy-tale world of a grey antiquity, when there were no people on the planet. Gigantic water element lies somewhere very close, weird shadows fall down on its surface, and time as a concept completely disappears.
Closing The Eternity is a project from Yekaterinburg, this musician managed to record over a dozen of albums, including collaboration with Mathias Grassow. Creation of this album continued about 10 years, finally it was released on Myzyka Voln, Saint Petersburg, Russia, limited edition of 300 copies with authentic design.
A few days ago I came back home after a long trip in a fairly confined space, traveling various time zones. I looked at a small pile of parcels, accumulated during my absence and picked up the one by Closing The Eternity to be played first. It was probably the best choice I could have made (as I found out later of course), since within fifteen minutes of the first piece (lasting close thirty minutes) I was dozing off, drifting back into space, but this time without being in a confined space, and without other people, noise, screens flickering around me. I have no idea who to thank for this, since Closing The Eternity reveals no names. I only heard music from this project before when I reviewed the collaboration with Matthias Grassow in Vital Weekly 983. I found that one a bit new age-like for my taste, but with this one they dive right back into the world netherworld of dark drone music. Music that was already recorded in 2004, and mixed in 2007, and for unknown reasons never released before. Maybe it needed the right label, and Muzyka Voln means 'music of waves', so it has found the perfect home for it. Two very long pieces, twenty-five and twenty-five minutes, while in the middle there is an eight-minute piece. In all three of these pieces time comes to standstill. The drone pieces are very quiet, and I am not sure why that is. I would think it could easily have been a bit louder than this. I am not complaining though. Even now, fully recovered from jetlag, all present and not dozing off, I think this is a great release. Probably not in terms of hearing something that hasn't been done before, as this fits perfectly the world of all things dark, drone and atmospheric, but Closing The Eternity simply delivers three excellent pieces of that kind of isolationist music, with the closing piece, 'Alongside The Infinity' having the most action of the three. This is an excellent mid winter mood music release.
Russian ambient drone project Closing The Eternity has had numerous releases going back to 2001, some of them in collaboration with Ad Lux Tenebrae, Mathias Grassow, and others. 'Forever And A Day' was recorded in 2004, mixed in 2007 and mastered in 2008. Why it hasn't been released until now is a bit of a mystery. The label claims it "has long been waiting the right moment for manifestation" but I'm guessing there were other factors involved. This is the first release on the Muzyka Voln/Zhelezobeton label for Closing The Eternity and that may have also have had something to do with it. CTE has gone through plenty of other labels in their time, so who knows? Anyway, 'Forever And A Day' is here now, and it's actually quite good. This is what I'd call "grey ambient" as opposed to dark or light, where the atmosphere is kind of neutral but still in lonely, isolationist terrain. There are three tracks (two lengthy ones, and a shorter one about 8.5 min.) a little over an hour in length total, but it's all that easy to discern one from the other. In a sense, the music bears a remarkable similarity to the cover photography by Arseniy Vinovarov, who took these pictures literally on the edge of the Earth - at the shore of the Arctic ocean. Surely that is a fairly bleak place (not that there isn't a certain sense of beauty about it) and this work absolutely reflects that. There is an ebb and flow to these drone pieces that could be equated with natural elements in the Earth's environment. It is simultaneously relaxing and disquieting, and maybe only those who have stood at the precipice overlooking some vast terrain or abyss might understand this. Played loudly, 'Forever And A Day' could easily seem oppressive and overwhelming, but at medium to low volume wondrous and transcendental. There are no obtrusive elements or incidents in the recording; it all flows smoothly. And though you might consider this minimal, there is no thinness to the atmosphere for it is as deep and wide as your ears can perceive. Having something as amorphous as this makes it easy to return to when you're in the mood for something that isn't highly defined.
Although Closing The Eternity is sort of shrouded in mystery, it hasn't been too difficult to find that the person behind the project is Anton Shafarostov (aka 121) who also has another (apparently) still active project called Velehentor which seems to be dark ambient and abrasive than Closing The Eternity. This release is strictly limited to 300 CD copies only, no digital download available, so if it sounds interesting to you, order it now because once it's gone, it's gone.
Muzyka Voln, a division of Zhelezobeton label and distribution based in Saint Petersburg, Russia, has resurrected on this CD album older recordings of the Russian Drone Tsar 121, who records under the moniker Closing The Eternity. Released at the end of 2016 in strikingly engrossing 6-panel digisleeve and graced by breathtakingly panoramic coastal photographs by A.V. (Arseniy Vinovarov), the album comes in a limited edition of 300 hand numbered copies. According to the info, the album was recorded during March 2004, mixed in October 2007 and mastered in February 2008. Yeah, those familiar with this highly respected drone project know that Closing The Eternity has released since 2001 around 13 solo and collaborative/split projects on various labels, mostly based in Russia like Infinite Fog, ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ, Aquarellist, Fight Muzik, Radiodrone, Operator Produkzion or in Czech Republic based Epidemie Records. Recordings such as "Northern Nights Ambience", "Superstring Paradigma", "Kosmodrones" or both untitled collaborations with Mathias Grassow undoubtedly belong to The Drone Pantheon, so when "Forever And A Day" has landed on my radar's screen, immediate action was taken!
It's quite obvious the aural part levels the visual bliss as soon the first dronecarved spirals emerge out of the tideland's haze. Propelled by infinitely tiding organics, nebulously immersing drone stratum relentlessly glides, traverses and expands into gargantually crescendoing epic meridians. The title composition, "Forever And A Day", covering nearly 28 minutes, transports the listener way beyond the gates of ordinary, directly to jaw-droppingly barren coastal sceneries, meticulously reinforced by magnificently transcendental dronescaping reverberations bridged with gracefully enrapturing panoptic reflections. An awesome listening experience!!! Shorter, only 8 and a half minutes long "In The Back Of Beyond" delves even deeper into abyssal domains, merging devastatingly humming magmas with mind-bending immense solitariness. Monochromously monolithic layer constantly dives into breathtakingly metamorphosing depths, where disastrously ear-puncturing outbursts coexist with delightfully unfathomable enigmas. Thrillingly intense drone tour de force showcasing Closing The Eternity at the very top of his craft!!! The closing "Alongside The Infinity" is another long-form piece, this one clocks over 25-minute mark, and it shifts into relatively calmer terrains permeated by spectacularly intangible crepuscular illuminations, yet intricately tenebrous, although perpetually infused by noisier seashore breaths. But stupendously pinnacling manifold surges, intermittently guarded by remote, grandiosely longing vistas, steal the forefront and insistently engulf the listener. At some moments climaxing drone inferno, but for the bigger part rather quieter, yet tremendously powerful and quintessentially mindscaping. What a drone odyssey to wrap up this immense aural exhilaration!!!
Wow, not bad for a recording hidden for almost ten years after its mastering... Fortunately, there is no "Best before" on such everlasting drone wizardry. "Forever And A Day" is without doubt abundantly staggering indigenous escapade by one of the most creative forces within the profoundly fascinating and exuberantly piquant conceptual droneforging. Bravo, 121/Closing The Eternity!!! And of course kudos to Muzyka Voln, for keeping glass mastered format alive along with visually stunning digisleeves, this is the home of several other exceptional drone purveyors like Creation VI & Uhushuhu, Neznamo, Exit In Grey or Kshatriy. An ultimate must-have exploration for all drone connoisseurs awaits here!!!
|
|
© 2002-2022
Radionoise.ru |