“Dark ambient music built upon layers of abstract confettis and effects of guitar delays, Here and Away is before all for those who enjoy something more than the usual thing”
1 Night Trip 1:32 2 Ordered and Filed 6:48 3 Composition Book 1:50 4 Family Gathering 1:01 5 End Credits 1:10 6 Reconstruction 1 3:22 7 Reconstruction 2 6:51 8 Reconstruction 3 5:08 9 Reconstruction 4 3:11 10 Reconstruction 5 2:45 11 Reconstruction 6 3:38 12 Reconstruction 7 3:12 13 End Credits (Extended) 2:37 Caustic Reverie Music
(DDL 40:31) (VF) (Dark experimental ambient music)
Here, we are in the spheres of very dark ambient music with an experimental approach which flirts almost with an abstract music. Caustic Reverie, a name which says it all, is the project of Bryn Schurman, a sound engineer from Miami and a supporter of EM built on the effects of delays and reverberations as the kind of Robert Fripp and his Frippertronic. Inspired by cosmos and novelties about science fiction, he already has a novel in his portfolio, Bryn Schurman is a kind of artist who touches at everything. Musician, sound designer, radio man, writer, computer programmer and video player, he adores walking in the Keys in Florida and recording the noises of nature, of a city and of all the noises which drag in his everyday life. Offered only in download on the Bandcamp site of Caustic Reverie, HERE AND AWAY disposes of its 40 minutes in 2 chapters, more or less identical, of which the first part is the music is the soundtrack of a short film of the same name made by Abby Sirwatka in 2016.
Our ears welcome Night Trip and its long hollow breezes which are lulled by a nice poetic approach. Ordered and Filed follows with a ballet for idle layers which float among strange sibylline murmurs. Two lines of synth/guitar criss-cross their contrasting phases in a soft movement of floating vibes which is briefly disrupted by more shadowed winds at the gate of 4 minutes. The short Composition Portfolio espouses the same principle but with an incursion in a parallel universe while that Family Gathering lulls the whole thing with a more poetic approach. End Credits ends the music of Abby Sirwatka's movie with a more rhythmic approach fed by fascinating percussions which structure a kind of native trance. The layers of voice are superb here. This short segment of a dozens of minutes is rather attractive and promising. Except that the 2nd part of HERE AND AWAY is soberer and exploits a little more the universe of samplings and effects of reverberations in a less poetic approach, less animated by the visual suggestions of the American movie director. So Reconstruction 1 begins this 2nd phase with more metallic flavored layers which melt between our ears by creating a feeling of emptiness around us. Some effects sweep the sonic horizons and pull the music, too short according to me, towards a finale without explanations. Cut in 7 very different parts but nevertheless connected by the same visions, the Reconstruction saga flows between our ears like 7 chapters of ambient music and elements which mix emotionalism and passivity at some different degrees. The color of the tones and the soundscapes are separated between good effects of reverberations and synth layers which cuddle depths rather colorful painted by very diversified samplings. The sibylline and psychotronic sides are elements that we remark a little bit better after more than one listening. And contrary to the addicting and delicious rhythm of End Credits, End Credits (Extended) ends this 20th album from Caustic Reverie with a more ambient and especially more melodious approach. But all in all, Bryn Schurman's music is constantly evolving between two universes where fright is never too far from a strange paranormal sweetness. A fascinating album which will please the amateurs of a music built in the art to seduce eardrums with an approach clearly bore by a vision for the abstract art.
Sylvain Lupari (December 10th, 2017) ***½**
Available on Caustic Reverie Bandcamp
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