Ajna — New Revelations of Being
Cyclic Law mainstay Ajna has returned with a lush and elegant follow up, New Revelations of Being, a sprawling seventy minutes, which is a listening experience much like exploring some subterranean city in a dream. For those unfamiliar, Ajna's primary language is rushes of air implying impossible vastness, and melodically imbued reverberant contrails (which is often called 'dark ambient'). This is something of an understated symphony, with three-dimensional modern sound design; a very wide stereo field
In the billowing emptiness, there is an overarching design, a directedness to the gliding movement, a cinematic tension and a clear narrative. Though it is a lengthy album, no time is wasted, and it feels like a truly ambitious and epic tale befitting Ajna's veteran status. Perhaps, some of the most conventionally 'dark ambient' of the Cyclic Law oeuvre, but also among the most masterful, taking the existential feelings felt in classic albums by Lustmord or Inade to their furthest, and most skillfully realised extent.
"Rodez Asylum" is like some kind of synthetic gamelan with its microtonal sine arpeggiations, portraying a delirious discomfort. Fans of Raison D'etre should appreciate this album's mournful poeticism, exemplified by haunted melodic tracks like "Letters to Andre Breton". Pieces like the titular "New Revelations of Being" illicit a sensation like a free fall, a howl of cold wind with an ever descending tone, vertigo inducing, with no solid anchor in the foreground to hold on to.
Albums like this illustrate how much subtlety and visionary brilliance can truly be achieved with reverb and spatial effects. Within a sonic palette consisting primarily of air, an entire universe of images can be vividly seen, and an enormous void can be profoundly felt. It is truly an immersive sensory experience.