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from Ampersand Etcetera 2001-15 (8.31.2001) written by Jeremy Keens
http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampersand.html & jeremy@pretentious.net
Seofon (with Vidna Obmana, Steve Roach, Stephen Kent, Robert Rich, Not Breathing, Thermal)
Zero Point: Lessons in being nothing [Fou.11] The Foundry/Hypnos
Michael Bentley (eM, Apiary, Rhomb) and The Foundry was one of the many great pleasures of Ampersand - Michael sent me some stuff and we have kept in contact since. I was intrigued when I saw on a message of his to the ambient-list that there were four items forthcoming from a Foundry/Hypnos collaboration (he had hinted at a big year). It seems that by combining with Hypnos - one of the current first rate ambient labels - Michael has been able to keep The Foundry afloat, and following the Archipelago releases, expanded his roster beyond himself in various guises and collaborations. Two of the four will get a guernsey this issue, the other two in 16.
Aesthetically the four show a consistent design, which is appealing and shows the sure Bentley hand. The spine and a strip front and back are white, with the barcode incorporated as a design element which sweeps from the back, around the spine and into the tray. Hypnos and The Foundry logos are on the back-white strip, and quality photographs (appropriate to the issues) grace the cover, tray and (grainyversion) disk print. Crisp sans serif type, artist and title on either side of a front-cover horizontal line, varying positions across the four: a unified design without conformity. There are pdf files with images and more information at The Foundry site, and also some non-cd MP3 tracks in addition to some 'taster' tracks.
Seofon was/is a member of ATOI - the Ambient Temple of Imagination (v2.02) - and on this release takes tracks from their last album 'Planetary House Nation' and 'recycles' them (a term used by Obmana and Tiechens) through various artists in a remix chain: sometimes only a single remixer, at others 2 or 3. As usual the originals are not familiar to me, so I will take it on its own terms, although the general feel I got from the ATOI compilation is of sweeping ambient techno. To save confusion I will refer only to the retitled track, and ignore the various hands at play as I am unfamiliar (I must admit) with each one's work to be able to quantify what they have brought to the project: the result is the object under scrutiny.
The mood and method of the album is set in motion by 'Splendours' where an extended opening of quiet sussurus and long voicey tones provide an awakening to the long central section. Here a beat starts to develop, taking a couple of minutes to work its way to the foreground, and a spacey driven section takes over. And then the final three minutes is a dubby devolution to the drifting ambience. Seofon has editied the album into a seamless whole, with up to 20 seconds of overlapping, so we move straight into 'The gift' a industrialish rhythm with shakers setting up a breathing rhythm. Brief but intense. A chittering and tonal opening to 'Collecting the spirit', underscored by a King Crimson mellotron sound, shifts into a lovely extended dialogue between synth tones and the didgeridoo.
Growth and evolution in 'Science of success' as choppy rhythm cycles, tones and sqrls intertwine, eventually joined by a complex tabla percussion and a restrained but forceful electric guitar and swirling synths. Deeply ambient, 'Mystery of freewill' shifts from washes, tones water and voices beautifully layered to a simpler clattering percussive second half with deep tones which take the fade. The strangely named 'Rev. 20:13 teknos (the seeding)' (thinking about it, probably a reference the the Book of Revelations) is a wonderful extended trip, travelling on a sea of long tonal waves (deep, string, rumbling) which is joined for short periods by various ethnic percussion and chant, then guitar and didgeridoo, then sliding into swelling metaltones (almost sitar) to a forceful end.
The two title tracks close the album. 'Lessons in being nothing' is a meditation on a hollow modulated ringing tone and temple bells, low chants suggesting Tibet, rising to a subdued rhythm before returning to the drones, while 'Zero point' is a big dramatic conclusion. Held organ tones, interference sqrls and a resonant gong or shaken metal sheet that returns in waves are the main elements, with other tones and a light beat working their way in, but it builds to a powerful dense sound wall, eases back for a while, and then into a long tonal fade. These two in particular suggest the spiritual element of the music. On the whole it does resemble my other experiences with ATOI, but there seems to be drone elements here (reflecting Obmana and Rich), which adds a further dimension. Whoever is responsible for what, it is a foreceful and complex tribal/ambient/dub album which marks an excellent first step in the expansion of The Foundry.
[see also Jeremy's comments on our first releases here, and on our chapbooks here, and on Mollusk's Accretions here]