Esmerine — Aurora
They play a similar epic style of instrumental music to many of the bands their members originate from, but Esmerine mainly limit their instrumentation to Cello, Violin and Piano. Found sounds and the occasional use of guitar also appear on some tracks.
Quelques mots pleins d’ombre is the first track which begins the CD in melancholic fashion. Mournful cello and slow piano notes drip through a dense mix that also includes some light tinkling percussion, like a xylophone. The tempo and structure isn’t as vast as GSBE and the strings are allowed space to breath and create with simple repetitive riffs an atmosphere of tense anticipation.
The second track History repeating as One thousand hearts mend is the longest and most minimal. Again desperately slow almost funeral like Cello, violin and metallic drones. After a long build-up a light percussive rhythm is added and the strings begin to unfold like a huge flower in the morning light. The Cello and violin begin to express short bursts of life in the form of short meandering solos outside the fug of the consistent drone. It’s wonderfully atmospheric and draws you in like watching fire.
Mandos is again a sombre dirge like track that has a faster more direct pace, Cello and violin competing for space in the shortest of the track on offer.
My favourite piece here is the wonderfully melancholic Why she swallows bullets and stones. It’s the only track that is piano led and also features some great use of found sound and droning mechanic effects. You would probably not describe the music of Esmerine as happy but when I listen to this track I see images of people running through open fields and blue skies away from the commotion of city life, and a real sense of optimism in the music. I’m just sad that the track is only five minutes long.
Ebb tide, Spring tide, neap tide, flood is a quite experimental work that begins with static panning across your ears and bells ringing either side, there is little or no melody or rhythm to the bells and they are soon joined by an ominous bass drone that leads the bells into a crescendo amounts more radio derived found sound.
The last track Le Rire De L’ange is perhaps the most straight forward of all, and is quite reminiscent of some of the material of Silver Mt Zions debut album. Drums, guitar, Cello and more short-wave radio static guide this track through to be honest quite a dull melodic excursion that lacks much of the tension and atmosphere of the other tracks. It’s still very melancholic but seems to stand apart from the darker pieces in that it seems to be quite neutral in overall mood. The album fades out in a wave of guitar feedback.