Fossil Aerosol Mining Project — August 53rd
The new album, entitled August 53rd, is apparently prequel to their 2015 album The Day 1982 Contaminated 1971, which further leads us to the cinematic component of the concept of this collective. It’s released on US label Helen Scarsdale Agency, as a LP, though I’m reviewing a digital promo
The cover of the album is made up of muted green tones. With it’s picture showing an abandoned checkpoint, possibly at some underground supermarket parking lot. A concrete texture is superimposed over the main image, which gives a more dirty and neglected appearance to the cover.
It would be extremely difficult and useless to describe every composition of the album (there are only seven of them), because this genre of sound art is based more on the overall perception of the album, on ones emotions, and the visual images that arise during listening. The albums sonic soundscape, consists of various tapping, squeaking textures, ghostly radio voices, jazz and country loops, which are all underfed by generously ambient backdrop. In my opinion, the atmosphere of the album, despite a rather gloomy post-apocalyptic message, seemed bright to me. It's not like the death of the world. It's like recovering from a long illness. There is a sense of a certain loss, but the future is optimistic. It's like you see a new world without people, developing on the remains of a deceased worthless civilization. Gas stations that have already begun to hide among young trees, underground parking with cars, covered by grass and flowers... Empty supermarket, illuminated by the rays of the sun, making their way through the broken windows ... And on a moss-covered shelf there is a box of cookies with an eternal shelf life... There is no anxiety, only peace. No more people, no more zombies. Everything has returned to its origins.
The Fossil Aerosol Mining Project have been creating & homing their sound for many years. And they know how create an distinctive atmosphere. I just personally felt, August 53rd, with run time of 40 minutes, started to become somewhat wearing in it's later stages. It's not about the quality of the material , but ones imagination begins to play tricks - the last 8-minute track called "1991 from 2015" is almost pure ambient, which is felt slightly out of the general perception of the album and destroys the visual images that emerged earlier ...
Undoubtedly, the genre of sound collages is quite a specific theme. You need an amazing feeling of composition and patience to make a balanced and enjoyable track / album. In addition, to using physical sound artefacts. As a result, we have with August 53rd a strong, solid and serious album in the genre of sound art, which I'm sure will be appreciated by past fans, as well as intrigue new listeners.