‘An
Aerial View’ is the first release in minimalist drone label
‘Glacial Movements’ WURM series. WURM is the name
of the World’s most recent glaciation which ended around
10000 years ago. A glaciation that turned most of Europe and Eurasia
into open steppe-tundra whilst Scandinavia and much of Britain
were under ice. With ‘An Aerial View’, Oophoi attempts
to describe the ‘Ice Age’ with an uninterrupted 60
minutes of drone. Taking the form of a solitary entity in-flight
over the vast, uncontaminated expanse, Oophoi concentrates on
sonically portraying the uninterrupted white landscape and abyssal
silence through a combination of delicate Theremin tones and minimalist
airy-drone that drift listlessly across a spacious expanse.
The
eerie Eno-esque piece ebbs and flows enchantingly like micro ripples
in an otherwise static sea of icy water and within these macro
thematic’s, rhythmic tones swell and contract organically
whilst murmuring winds gush in a subtle and inviting manner. The
ambivalent melodic drift that meanders throughout the track makes
the most of the ‘alien’ and ‘surreal’
sounds associated with the Theramin to result in a piece that
is almost angelic in its execution, moving the listener to some
sort of unexplained sonic enlightenment. It is literally like
a slow-motion capture of light particles reflecting off the blinding
white ice, a reaction that leaves the listener in a warm and fuzzy
cosmic-daze.
In
today’s society where everything is pre-conditioned around
being delivered immediately, Oophoi has nearly halted the flow
of time, reducing it to a non-entity. The fact that the timer
on the CD player is counting is almost an affront to the aesthetic
of the piece. With ‘An Aerial View’, Oophoi has continued
the rich tradition of classy ambience exuded by the specialist
‘Glacial Movements’ label and has succeeded in achieving
his aim of scoring the soundtrack to the flowing and uninterrupted
white of the Ice-Age. Ultimately, ‘An Aerial View’
is an album to score ones societal regression, a 60 minute hibernation
of the listener to cerebrally disengage with society and engage
with the infinite expanse of the harsh yet beautiful tundra. (KS)
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