Drøne — Reversing Into The Future

Debuting on limited vinyl and wav DL, drøne comes to Pomperipossa Records with Reversing Into The Future. Making use of modular synths, field recordings, and even short wave radio, Mark Van Hoen and Mike Harding combine their talents to make a luxurious soundscape that captures our modern era. Desolate but still somehow comforting, reversing into the future is a slow burner that grows with repeated listens.

Consisting of two tracks at just over nineteen minutes each, drøne's debut definitely fits the drone/ambient mold. Taking its time to let the layers unfold and reach out their arms, reversing into the future moves slowly and deliberately toward its goal. The album starts with "this strange life I" and its very cinematic vibe. Lower oscillations add some electrical gravity to the lofty loops that play on high, stretching the scope of the soundscape at hand. Soon, the synths come bubbling in like communications from from an extraplanetary source. An interesting loop joins the fray and the first side ends in a fairly contemplative note. "this strange life II" picks up with a low, static laden oscillation and adds an air of grimness. Wistful tones and stretched out "horn" drones bring this one to a black and white past before dispersing into high pitched movement and short wave recordings. A different rumble joins up to fill out the scope while ghostly voices speak from afar. Synths soon regain control and a crispy, haunting, RPG like score brings the listener to the close of the record.

Slow, deliberate, and fairly engaging, drøne's debut, Reversing Into The Future, shows two artists making a modern day soundscape out of very few components. While some sections seem a bit disjointed coming off of the previous sections, reversing works well overall, and increases in beauty with each successive listen. A very promising debut, I'm looking forward to see how drøne follows this up in the future.