Hwyl Nofio — From Elevated Gangways Rivers Of Molten Metal Flow
I’m reviewing just a CDR promo of the release, and have only seen a selection of images/ pages from the book, but from what I’ve seen it certainly fit’s the releases title, and I’m sure will enhanced the sonics with –in the album too. I believe, when this came out in February of this year, there where a 100 copies of the CD/book release available- but I’m not sure what the situation is now on it.
Hwyl Nofio is a British project that’s centred around multi- instrumentalist Steve Parry, whose previously worked with the likes of with Matt Johnson of The The and Colin Potter of Nurse with Wound. The projects been sporadically active since 1999, releasing six full-lengths, and a few smaller releases.
On this new release we get two tracks, and each of these comes in around the twenty minute mark. These are simply titled From Elevated Gangways Rivers Of Molten Metal Flow parts 1 & 2, with the elements here been created between 1998 & 2008- so clearly this is a work that has long been homed & worked on.
"Part 1" begins with this churning & revolving percussive element- very much bringing to mind the sound of the machines from the industrial revolution. As the minutes tick by, subtle picks & nicks of guitar are added in with an on/off drone simmer. We also get a growing selection of other textures, taking in sawing, sour bowings, metal hacks & hits. All creating this feeling of both building tension, with an undertone of sour brood. By around the five & a half minute mark a more formal & electrified drone has appeared, and this slowly but surely engulfs most of the sonic picture in simmering noise haze- so you can just make out the percussive hit ‘n’ churn. By around the 10th minute the other elements have been fully pared back, and from time-to-time we get the original on/off bass hover appearing. At the fourteen minute mark we shift again- this time into a blend of eerier-yet- dense organ simmer, and feed-back. Over time this shifts from its shrill beginning to warmer-yet-still unsettling blend of organ hum, and this is joined by sudden darts of guitar picks & effects.
"Part 2" opens with a building mesh of noisily blunt guitar drone ‘n’ bass hover-this is underfed by a buzz haze of feedback- this rather brought to my mind images of decaying animal carcasses been hazed by clouds of flies. By around the two a half minute a more harmonic & slowly circulating guitar element has taken centre stage, and under this Mr Parry is adding in subtle & building smaller guitar detail- which nicely intensifies the feeling of moving through a barren landscape made of both ragged trees, ghostly half-dead heather, and broken down industrial buildings. By around the ninth minute the buzzing haze of feed back has returned, and in the end this once again completely takes over everything as the harmonic drone backs out. Though we do get the return of the on/off bass hover ‘n’ fade from the first track. Just like the first track, at around the fourteen minute mark we move to layers of organ sustain & simmer, before we end the track of some sour ‘n’ scrubbing guitar string randomness.
Sonically both tracks here have there interesting moments, but of the two I’d say the second was the most satisfying to me in terms of both conjuring up imagery in my head & it’s generally sonic lay-out. On the whole the two tracks certainly managing to capture both feelings of melancholic out-of time-ness, changing landscapes, and Britain's industrial past. Though I do feel like it’s slightly lacking compared to past Hwyl Nofio releases- maybe it’s because I’ve not seen the whole packaging, or maybe it’s because there’s just two tracks.