U58 | René Aquarius | Woodland Sigil
1. Ancient Forest_excerpt
4. Chapel_excerpt
format : Glass mastered CD ltd to 200 hand numbered copies
Packaged in clear vinyl sleeve with folded insert and additional art card on 350gr matt laminated paper.
release year : 2019
length : 36’01
tracks :
1. Ancient Forest
2. The Oak
3. Shore
4. Chapel
5. Black Soil
status : OUT NOW !
>>> order via Paypal : chalkdc@unfathomless.net
(Belgium) : 13 € (inc.postage)
(Europe) : 14 € (inc.postage)
(World) : 15 € (inc.postage)
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: info :
During the summer of 2017 my girlfriend and I drove through the heart of Sweden. For the first time ever on a holiday, I took my hand-held recorder with me to record some of the sounds Sweden had to offer.
In the course of 2 weeks we saw many beautiful vistas, viking graves and ancient woods and it’s no surprise that I made a lot of recordings at those most beautiful locations.
For nearly a year, these recordings were collecting digital dust on my hard drive. I just listened to them every now and then until May 2018, when I suddenly got the idea to ‘enhance’ the original recordings in such a way that it would be difficult to tell where the field recordings stop and the ‘enhancements’ start…
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Tree stumps and bones in the ground are silent witnesses to years filled with droughts, erosion and fire. Currently though, the mossy bedding of the forest floor is soft and the woodland is flourishing and filled with animals. Birds burst into prayer and the rain slowly transforms into small streams that exude from the trees and lead right to the shore, where the woods start. Deep within them, invisible horns seem to resonate in the wind. But the woodland is so vast and dense that it remains impossible to pinpoint their exact location.
(René Aquarius, February-May 2019)
: reviews :
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Two new Unfathomless releases bring listeners to the deep forest, where mysteries beckon and surprises lie around every corner. Each CD opens windows to the past by presenting the sounds that might have been heard in prior centuries.
René Aquarius‘ Woodland Sigil makes no bones about its additions; the artist seeks to blur the lines between the original recordings and the “enhancements.” The album features a lot of rain, which contributes sonic depth; one can imagine being drenched in “Ancient Forest” but appreciating the experience. The artist creates a light narrative in which the rain works its way from stream to shore while various woodland creatures offer commentary. The core recordings were captured in the heart of Sweden, near “Viking graves and ancient woods,” and shimmer with a mystical aura. Like Bailey, Aquarius uses light drones as sonic glue, and again it’s easy to hear where they are fastened. In this instance, one thinks more of Druids than of circuits. This isn’t just “getting back in touch with nature;” it’s an encounter with the divine. The piece “Chapel” underlines the point; while this may be an actual chapel, it’s also the chapel of the forest, where worshippers and the object of worship are one step closer. Together, these two artists help us to imagine a time before our time, while suggesting places in which we might still be overcome by awe.
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Richard Allen
A Closer Listen
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By now you might recognize the name René Aquarius from these pages being a member of Dead Neanderthals, or the one-CD only project (it seems) Krishna (Vital Weekly 1041), but nowadays more and more active with solo releases. Surprisingly that sees him moving away from his instrument of choice, the drums, and working with sounds. ‘Woodland Sigil‘ is the best example of that so far, or perhaps I should say the most extreme example. Aquarius made field recordings in various parts Småland, Sweden, which I can say from my own experience is a beautiful area; lots of trees, lakes, small villages and friendly people. No people were caught before Aquarius‘ microphones as his focus lies in the recordings of small creeks, wind, trees and such like. Back home he does something with these recordings, but I am not sure what it is. In each of the five pieces, there seems to be the use of long loops, of repeating sounds and some kind of drone-like undercurrent. How he created that is unclear to me. I was thinking he could have applied some kind of processing to the material to generate these drone sounds, or perhaps he took out a gong and strikes that to generate that. It surely adds quite a spooky element to the music, like a ghost in the forest sort of atmosphere. Each of these pieces seems like a variation of the other, but they are not. Titles are indications of what kind of sounds are used; ‘Shore’, ‘Chapel’ and ‘The Oak’ seems self-explanatory, whereas ‘Ancient Forest’ and ‘Black Soil’ leave a bit more to guess. Yet they all sound dark and moody, and perhaps also a bit spooky. In ‘The Oak’ it sounded like rain upon a metal roof, and in ‘Chapel’ there are some dog sounds. With thirty-six minutes just a bit on the short side, as I wished there was a bit more..
Frans de Waard
Vital Weekly
