ambient
Skrow032
Guitar Bastard - In the View of the Mind's Eye
Hypnotic buzz and swirling ghostly tones, a vortex of haunting sound for one to fall into. One extended guitar-based soundscape from the aptly named Skrow! newcomer, known in other circles as shawn phase of temp sound solutions, who had this to say about the work:
“27 minutes of prepared guitar by yours truly. steinbererish koa/graphite into behringer v-amp2, operating table, fan/duster recorded/postrecorded directly to sony tc-570 3 head reel to reel and digital hdd simultaneously. monitored and recorded in stereo using univox/lafayette 80 watt quadraphonic hifi stereo system and randall 150w amp ran to a 4×12″ speaker to simulate stereo effects.
thanks to sony, sanyo fans, the luthier that made my guitar, the skrow family for embracing my weirder side.”
Dark meditations for dark minds. Headphones required.
Tracklisting:
- In the View of the Mind’s Eye (27:00)
Skrow028
Ellipse - After the Sun
Ethereal sonorities in a shadowy berth, a meeting place for things both dark and light. Here are our dualities investigated, awash in colour and grey, claustrophobic in an infinite space: the locus of a soul.
Ellipse presents us with three pieces for electric guitar that are at times quietly introspective, and at others screaming at the heavens with fire and futility. Please adorn your ears and explore.
Tracklisting:
- Becoming Empyreal (18:22)
- The Immeasurable Breadth of Night (9:59)
- An Ocean Upon Us (23:17)
Skrow026
Ellipse / Saffron Slumber - Translucence
Awash in a ceaseless cloud of lost memories, reaching for light. We find ourselves in a sea of our own reckoning, clutching driftwood to our bared breasts, a subtle heat radiating from within that warms the cool mists around us. The atmosphere thickens, becomes as a gelatin which slows our existence and reflects us from within until, finally, we are encased in an unfrozen ice of our deepest fears and desires; static, yet internally vivified. We shatter into numberless shards, waltzing silently in scintillating bliss as we dissipate into the air. The cycle begins anew.
So it is that we present the first (and certainly not the last) split release from Skrow! fellows Ellipse and Saffron Slumber. It showcases arguably some of the greatest work of two fine artists of complimentary mentality and style while exploring a vast musical space of mystique and airy melancholia. Assume an appropriately fetal position and adorn your ears with a suitable binaural apparatus. Surround yourself in translucence, close your eyes and peer through.
Tracklisting:
- Ellipse - Drifting Endless Ethereal (11:33)
- Saffron Slumber - Viscosity (4:01)
- Saffron Slumber - Glass Variation (Silicon Dioxide) (5:46)
Skrow023
Saffron Slumber - Cascades
It is with great excitement on this cool December eventide that we present the long-awaited Skrow! followup from Salem, Oregon’s Saffron Slumber. Cascades is a gently tumbling avalanche of harmonic sound, resulting in four pieces with all the majesty, mystique, and enormity of the prodigious landforms which inspired them. Orography in aural form. Orogeny, even. Music to create mountains by.
Tracklisting:
- Cascade I (5:19)
- Cascade II (3:48)
- Cascade III (4:32)
- Cascade IV (7:27)
Skrow011
Ellipse - Abandoned
Continuing in quick succession the spirit of rendering the old as new, today finds us with Ellipse’s Abandoned. The title of the EP is a double entendre: each of the four pieces is part of a concept that revolves around the departure from Earth in favour of finding home on other heavenly bodies; at the same time, the title refers to the fact that this project was initiated two years ago and was intended to be considerably longer. These were, in fact, Ellipse’s first attempts at music of an ambient nature, and simply fell to the wayside as the artist progressed away from the new agey style you will find within.
So, in the spirit of rebirth, here it is. Don some headphones and turn your gaze heavenward.
Tracklisting:
- Exodus From a Blue Planet (6:29)
- The Destitution of Ashen Canyons (6:52)
- Sunrise Over the Umber Plains (7:05)
- Golden Cities in the Troposphere (6:08)
Skrow004
Saffron Slumber - Meditations on Autumn
Skrow! is overjoyed to present this, Saffron Slumber’s first official release (and hopefully not his last with us).
Two stunning pieces of ambient beauty dedicated to that most melancholy of seasons. Delayed piano creates a droning wash to lay beneath soft vocalisations, carried away as falling leaves on the September wind.
Headphones encouraged.
Tracklisting:
- Her Hair Was Leaves on the Wind (5:32)
- Endings (4:42)
Skrow003
Ellipse - This Is Not a Straight Line
One electric guitar, infinite delay. 9 improvised loop experiments made over two quiet days in August. Lovely cover art has been painted by Kevin Stephens.
Tracklisting:
- A Vascular Discourse (4:27)
- Harmonium (5:19)
- Glass Fortress (8:24)
- Undulations (3:45)
- Naked Under the Stars (7:31)
- Glacial Velocity (11:34)
- Eyes Like Rain (8:15)
- The Human Orrery (5:49)
- Bathe In Light (8:38)