Ektenia – Andrew Sherwell
The sound of the underside of an iceberg kissing the seabed pulls us further out to sea, as it drags fishing nets and lost Marconi static trailing. Then, hollow Tuvan-like throatings are revealed when icy surrounds melt, and a refinery of icy choral breathing is present in a millpond.
Longer echoes and softer ambience become the mainstay with the odd Narwhal poking though the seascape as an augmented cluster of drones and tones alter the trajectory but not so much as to interrupt the flow. A third of the way in though, the direction is becoming literally spectral in the sense of aural apparitions – and that Marconi static is back – is this a coincidence? I can hear a breaker’s yard in the distance.
And then we’ve landed, or at least changed craft, flying over the rust as shards of metal disperse and fling towards us. We hover for a bit to observe the fragments clustering in on themselves like giant magnetic office toys. They vibrate to the point of gas and we are drift into it, completely untethered, neither on land nor water – possibly floating in mid air.
The choirs are back. We know them. There’s a sense that someone is at the controls even if we are not sure who it is. By the time the journey is over we are left with the bare bones of a theme, almost all embers and little source left or understood. The journey has turned a little dark but it’s clear we have arrived after the threat.
