"Slow Promises" by The Winterhouse
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The Winterhouse "Slow Promises"
A wonderful collaboration between Anthony Paul Kerby and Robert Davies"Slow Promises" by The Winterhouse is a new collaboration from Robert Davies and Anthony Paul Kerby of The Circular Ruins, and from my very first listen I can tell it's destined to become a classic in the ambient genre. Davies and Kerby have really connected with each other, creating a disc that references and draws from individual styles and themes, while simultaneously creating a unique identity for itself. The disc opens with "Winterhouse" where the sound of rain suggests an outdoor scene from which a deep drone rises. It's a very cinematic opening, a track that evokes a vivid imagery, an expansive shot of a barren wasteland, rocks and sand as far as the eyes can see, clouds rolling above moving fast across the sky, and sheets of rain pouring down. Yet despite the bleak image, one can't help but feel a sense of possibility, the sense that anything could happen. There's a feeling that things will happen here, that this is more than just an aural environment, this is the start of something important. "Slow Promises" is up next, an oscillating drone interspersed with an occasional pulse of sound. As the track goes on, a slight melody becomes apparent, slowly rising and falling overtop the other sound, pushing and pulling at the shape of the soundfield, taking the listener's attention in different directions and different spaces. It's all very subtle, very sparse in tone, but it's so well crafted that you can't help but think there's more to what's happening. "Too Tired For Words" features a rising and falling note that plays over a steady drone while various sounds play in the fringes of the soundfield. It's a nice sound, an expansive track despite it's minimal source sounds that brings to mind images of empty spaces under a hot sun, sounds of people carried by the wind. "If You Dream Like This" returns us to the water theme, the sounds of dripping water and flowing rivers paired with reversed drones that give it a strange dreamlike quality. It's a beautiful space, a very pleasant environment that brings to mind half remembered dreams and nighttime reveries. "Beneath the Grey Walls" has an oppressive sound to it, a dark flavor that's rather intimidating and not a little bit unsettling. An oblique drone plays underneath the track, tones right on the edge of the soundfield playing in the background. Tones creep up to the centre of the track, only to move back again as if frightened to be exposed to the light. About halfway through a short melody begins, providing a certain light to an otherwise bleak space, but in that lightness we're only reminded how densely dark the track is. A very subtle track, but a very effective one. "Inside and Out" begins with the sound of indeterminate objects being shaken overtop a shifting bed of pads. As the track continues, more found sounds weave their way through the track, blending in and playing counterpoint to a steady drone. Voices can be heard in the background, but never so clearly that they might be understood. It's a wonderful example of ambience that can be explored, a static environment that the listener can invest in as they see fit. "Letting Go" rises up from silence, drifting pads that seem to reach up to the sky, searching, grasping, wanting. A bell-like tone rolls through the track, and pads whistle through like the wind, winding through the track leading us to a quiet and almost sacred sounding space, where pads rise and fall around each other, and a soft breathing tone plays in the background leading us back to the rain that we opened with. It's a nice circular nature to the track, something that works well with the disc as a whole. "Relax, it's all over" closes the disc, the sounds of wind and rain and the night sky. Crickets and the sound of footsteps. A scratchy melody is heard under the other sounds, eventually rising up and taking the sonic lead until it fades again, leading us back to the rain. It's a nice coda, a wonderful track to end a very wonderful disc... "Slow Promises" is a disc with a beautiful sound, a brilliant collaboration between artists that draws from the best of both talents. Davies and Kerby blend their distinct styles perfectly on this release and I have faith that repeated listenings will prove "Slow Promises" to be one of the best genre discs of the year, if not one of the best of the genre period. rik - ping things
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last updated 08/21/10
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