Small Hours - Shadows [Sweet Solitude - 2011]“Shadows” presents the listener with a subtly shifting & varying slice of very quiet & ambient HNW. The just over half an hour piece is split into eight index points, but really this is one long flowing, oddly melancholic and soothing slice of ambient walled noise or very quiet textured noise. The Cdr comes in a simple yet effect fabric sleeve that has inside it a plan cd sleeve, and a single piece of white paper with just a few lines of text in the bottom right hand connor. Moving onto the sonics inside, and basically again these are fairly simple & stripped, but very effective. The ‘wall’s are recorded at a very low level- so first off you have to turn up the volume to high, so you'll be able to make out what’s going on here. The primary texture through-out the first four tracks is a very subtle cold yet grimly soothing descending crackle, which I guess you could compare to either cold & distant winter rain fall or the slow just about surviving crackle of a fire. Over this crackle there is added either very subtle new textural points, slight textural morphs or it’s just left to drift along it’s own persistent yet bleak way. Tracks five onwards either take in very quite & thin drones, near complete silence, or strange distant buzzing or hums which one could take as either insect or machine based sounds. So “Shadows” is another very subtle & subdued slice of ambient walled noise from this UK based project. This release requires patience, good hearing & concentration….if you have all three of these qualities then you’ll find this a rather bleakly appealing & coldly rewarding release. Roger Batty
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