This album expresses the nonverbal emotions of solitude, and fits very well with the album art, which depicts a man with his truck alone in the snowy expanses of "The Quiet North".  Sometimes there are also sounds that recall a harsh, howling wind, although that could be said of much of the noise genre.  I find this to be a peaceful disk, actually - the process of creating sounds such as these would certainly create some kind of relaxed zen state, an enveloping womb.  It doesn't feel violent at all, and if you can stomach the opening minute none of the other sounds should surprise or grate on the listener.  In fact, if you're not paying attention, you may not notice the sound changing much at all.

It's a very full sound, although there are frequent gaps in the layers, and the stuttering sound only rarely breaks into a flowing wash of noise.  Textures of noise struggle to climb atop each other, sputtering and crunching in and out of audibility as the mix runs out of space.  It's produced / recorded well - A generally lower mid-range, meaty sound to it, with a deficiency of crisp treble that gives this music its 'cold' feeling, and which may be the reason this disk doesn't seem that harsh to me.  It's definitely the intentional sound of the disk, and it's hard to tell what the original sound sources were, though analog synths, feedback, guitars and sheet metal are definite possibilities.

Some of my favorite moments are near the beginning.  At times the noise is almost tonal, or rather sounds like there is a tone somewhere behind it, obscured except for rare glimpses - pure, harmonic feedback pitches that almost sound like notes stab out of the mix in periodic pointillism, and for a second the noise almost hints at a drone, and despite all its harshness, possesses serene beauty.  This is what most sets it apart from other noise releases.

I personally think he would have been better off making the piece more wall-like.  It's already very samey, and if anything there's a bit less intensity at the end than at the beginning, although the intensity is somewhat adequately sustained.  This puts it in an awkward middle ground between harsh noise and HNW: It's samey-ness means that when I'm looking for minimal noise, "The Quiet North" comes to mind, but I'm likely to end up wanting to go all the way and indulge in some actual HNW.  Then, when I'm in mood for some straight, roaring, screeching harsh noise, old Merzbow records from the 90's, among others, will provide a more engaging and visceral experience.  Seeing as he inhabits this middle ground, I can see how this man may have inspired the genesis of the HNW genre, but in 2010 I feel this sound has decreasing relevance.  All in all, not among my favorite noise releases I've heard this year, but solid.