AJNA — Oracular
During its existence, the ambient form has evolved into many different sub-genres, each of which, in turn, has generated its own subspecies. I think one of the largest branch is the sub-genre is Dark Ambient, which is characterized by deeper, darker and lower sound. One of more recent prolific names in this sub-genre is AJNA which was founded in 2008 by the New York based Chris F- and has released ten full-length albums, fourteen singles and EP's and five miscellaneous releases in its discography. In early 2020, German label Cyclic Law released AJNA's new full-length album, Oracular. The album is presented in the form of a 4 panel digipak sleeve CD and digital format
The album cover is a black and white photo of the interior of the room in a Victorian style. We can see the corner of the room, a large mirror, two wall lamps on each side of it and several interior items. One gets the feeling that the photo was taken through the glass of the window, because you can also notice the ghostly reflections of the railing and the street pillar. The photo is processed in such a way as to look pretty vintage. No textual information is placed on the cover. I think that this style can be safely attributed to art photography, since the cover has a great atmosphere. I think this fits perfectly with the musical component of the album.
Oracular consists of ten tracks of approximately the same length. The total length of the album is just over an hour . And the project presents us with a deep, viscous and monotonous take on dark drone ambience, built around low frequency range and enhanced by the effects of reverb and delay. These humming soundscapes, it seems to me, are made using some kind of oscillator synthesizer, because in some fragments a harmonious chord is clearly heard. Along with the main sound line, various sounds - creaks, rustling, tapping and so on - are mixed in the composition. Some of these sounds are clearly mechanical. It seemed to me that in some moments the sound of the blades of a low-power hand fan is used. Of course, I could be wrong, but it was very similar. All these accompanying sounds also underwent a certain processing of effects, but they have a shallower depth than the main line. This creates a very interesting effect of sound volume - the humming harmonic part covers a greater amount of sound space and is, as it were, in perspective. At the same time, manual sounds are perceived by the listener as closer. Thus, the overall sound and atmosphere become something frightening and claustrophobic. I think that Chris F had a special idea of making this kind of atmosphere. AJNA belongs to a sub-genre of Dark Ambient, such as Isolationist Ambient. One can argue about sub-genres for an infinitely long time, because in the world of experimental music there are too many intertwining styles and influences. But I would describe the AJNA genre simply as Dark Drone Ambient. Some of the listeners can hear here the influence of Industrial or Noise, or maybe even a small fraction of ASMR.
As a album Oracular doesn't open any new paths in the genre, but it skilfully combines the good practices made in previous albums and develops the ideas by other dark ambient projects. I think that the new AJNA album will appeal to fans of this, no doubt, inexhaustible genre of experimental music.