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 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Go to the Aranos website  Aranos - And Soon Coffin Sings [Pieros - 2005]

And soon coffin sings is the fifth release by Aranos in the last 18 months. Such prolific output leads to the question of whether he has been sacrificing quality control in favour of quantity.  Aranos is for those unfamiliar with his work a classical and folk violinist, who has worked extensively with Steven Stapleton of Nurse with wound and others associated with that group.

His last three releases Throat Clearance, Bering sea, and the No Relegion 7" single released on the Brainwashed label were all excursions into dark droning worlds of freeform electronics and noise. Here again he ditches the vocals and avant-folk stylings in favour of three long drone workouts.

The first, 36 Overgrown Umbrellas begins quietly with soft low drones that meander along without intruding too much, curious effects build up either side of the drone sounding like distant birds or at first even whales. Fans of Nurse with wounds Soliloquy For Lilith or some of Colin Potters work may find this familiar. The low drone is pretty minimal being almost a pure sine tone, very little variation occurs over the ten minutes and the track really just floats along into the second track Rock windows in glum horizons.

Here the sine tone drone asserts itself more but still adds very little real weight. Accompanying it is a light whistling sound that could be an acoustic whistle or even another sine wave generator modulating it’s pitch and vibrato. Around three minutes in fluttering electronic textures begin to circle at the edges of audibility, appearing and then vanishing like ghosts. Then a few minutes later minimal wooden percussion begins to tap out light simple rhythms. I guess you could describe it a more like tinkering than any real rhythm. There is also some odd movement in the background as if someone were walking over a soft ground close to a contact mic. Like most of the elements of the track it’s not very obvious and add very little. That basically is it for twenty minutes. Minimal, pastoral even but not very engaging.

The final track Drops of Golden Clams Transcended Seething Blue Craters begins without any drone. Instead we have what could be farmyard animals and Aranos producing odd bowing and scrapping sounds from his Violin. The occasional piano riff also makes an appearance. Only after five minutes or so does a very minimal mid-pitched tone appear but it’s doesn’t stay long. I actually think that Aranos is processing the piano chords into the light tones and they alternate in appearance, although it’s not really prominent enough in the mix to make any impact. As the piece progresses we are treated to a chorus of weird animal and found sounds that more often than not jarr the senses rather than inspire wonder.
After fifteen minutes the animal sounds drop off and we are left with the mid-pitched drone alone in space. Modulations of gong sounds begin to tumble from the tone as textures emerge from the mix. It’s again more meditative than engaging. This continues for the remainder of the tracks seriously excessive 42 minute duration.

I’m a fan of Aranos’ last releases and his work with Nurse with wound is among the best stuff they have done however this album does seem like the product of insufficient planning.  The composition is dull and the range of sounds far to limited in depth to hold interest. Perhaps a little break from releasing is needed.

Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5

Duncan Simpson
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