What we are looking at today is a brand new release by a German electronic musician, Uwe Zahn (Arovane). The artist has been saying for a long time at this point, that nowadays he is more interested in a completely different layer of music, namely – experimental ambient and drone, but not IDM. Although, it turns out that one of these things doesn’t necessarily cancel the other, at least in the context of this particular release. It is apparent, that new album is mostly ambient and drone, yet all of that is accompanied by some tiny additions in the form of nostalgic and (in the good sense of the word) naive sugary melodies, that had become groundlaying not only for the genre of braindance, but also, back in the beginning of the 00s, for the sound of the musician himself.
Already starting with the first track, siir, the audience’s imagination faces an entire atmospheric audio dimension that astonishes with its sizes, while having a static drone-structure as its basis. Gradually, as if pouring out of the first track, emerges the second composition, endolp, which, just as the first one, is introductory and contains quite a modest amount of musical notes. It is as if Uwe was seemingly saving every single bit of synthesized sound, acting on the principle of “everything must remain austere”.
meuur feautures a smooth movement towards noises and a semblance of a rhythmical structure, flowing and glittering in a manner mostly typical of experimental electronics. All synthesized parts are minimalistic, yet they still manage to reach the hearts of the audience through their simplicity.
The ringing sounds of the bells in the 9th track, cinn enrich the entire canvas of the release making it akin to the catalogue of the American label called 12k. These sounds, seemingly being mixed with field recordings, later transform into a melody, which every single note serves as a clicking time signature marker, a hint for the conductor.
quoo came to be an anthem for some sort of a world of toys. It is here, where Arovane sates that lack of notes that has been present in the album so far. The barely-audible rustling sounds present in the track are, in a way, shadows of synthesized sounds themselves.
Beginning with glitchiness and after a while transforming into a vibrating ambient-canvas, akin to a situation where a sound makes glass vibrate, or reminiscent of a working old fridge – that is precisely how the piece titled parnn starts. The kind of audio is similar to microsound, which makes it somewhat related to what Belarussian artist I/DEX makes.
The ending compostion, just like the very first one, stands out thanks to its voluminous sound, introducing the audience to some kind of abstract beginning of a path, that is only know to Arovane himself, a feeling that the Gestalt is only commencing, yet it is already at its end.
The album was released on audio cassetes, with a limited amount of copies. You can also buy the digital version of the release, as its price is only $1, cheaper than any purchase you make at a supermarket.
Buy
Arovane
Puremagnetik
Interview with Arovane
Author: Ilya Kudrin
