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  subterrene 
  Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been
  (Bad Architect) 


  
   review by Jeph Jerman
  2018-03-27
subterrene: Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been (Bad Architect)

Active since 2006, Subterrene is helmed by one Grant Stewart. On this short E.P. he gives us five miniature dronescapes that unfold slowly to reveal multiple layers. It sounds perhaps like it's constructed of loops with the edges blurred or frayed, sliding atop one another.

During the first two pieces ("gulf" and "variable 1"), there is a prevalence of metallic timbre, not unlike endlessly ringing gongs or bells, with an undercurrent of gauzy rumbling. "On a dark river" has an odd collection of notes, almost carnivalesque, repeating, supplanted intermittently by a cloud of metals. At louder volumes, a wealth of overtones are audible giving one plenty to focus the ears on.

These vignettes bridge the cavernous gap between noise and ambient drone, all but the final piece beginning with somewhat harsh sounds. "Haunted, ghosting" closes out the disc with far-off church bells heard through layers of thick fog, a memory of cold Sundays in winter.







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