abasio Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Evan Bartholomew Caverns of Time Somnia 2007 Tracklist 1 We Set Out Into The Caverns Of Time (17:42) 2 Leaving Behind Ourselves (9:52) 3 Leaving Behind Our Memories (11:49) 4 Elusive And Effervescent Is Our Destination (13:00) 5 Descending Deeper In Search Of The Timeless (8:56) 6 Reborn, We Fluctuate And Fade (10:40) Evan Bartholomew, of Bluetech fame is out with a beatless ambient album. Now beatless ambient can often be boring, long winded shite without anything going on & with some pretty lengthy tracks has Evan managed to avoid the pitfalls of yawnbient? Has he managed to create the textures & soundscapes I'm sure he's capable of? 1. We Set Out Into The Caverns Of Time We start this ambient journey with a long droning synth that initially fluctuates a lot but straightens out with just a few bobbles. These bobbles become more pronounced as the intro goes on. Other synths join in after a while managing to sound like voices crying out. More voices join in what sounds like an angelic choir of Seraphim singing the music of spheres. It's a really beautiful sound if unreal & distant. The angelical feeling passes into a much darker sound though & the cries that sounded angelic before sound more like cries of despair. A much more real sound, the same as it was yet different that it can ever be. As different as it was at first, it changes again. It sounds very much the same yet somehow it has sunk further into the earth, giving it a much more surreal quality. The slightly higher pitch of the cries seem to come through walls & the ever present drone in the background acts as a sounding board for them to echo off of. A great 18 minute odyssey of beatless wonder through the heavens down passed our imperfect world & into the depths of the underworld. Serene choirs crying out in joy, despair & rapture! 2. Leaving Behind Ourselves Like wind rushing through a chasm as the first light of dawn tries to make it's way through it also. The light sounds seem to rise up like leaves on the breeze while the heavy sounds seem to sink like shadows on a wall. The ever onward march of the dawn light prevails against the shadows as it always does but it only compliments the cold rush of the wind, never managing to bring it's warmth. This is a bright track, yes, but very cold at the same time. 3. Leaving Behind Our Memories The start again sounds like vocals coming from hidden places. Vocals that are not vocals yet have a very human yet distorted quality. Both singular & multiple at the same time, the voices sound like a mass of people all shouting through the one voice. Difficult to describe such an incredible sound, one you just have to hear to understand but as best I can that is it. Imagine a hundred people crying through as single hole in the wall & you might come close. The tome of the voice rises & falls like a wave on the sea and I, as the listener must ride the wave to fully understand it. I must let go & be carried away by the current. Floating on a sea of souls, listening to the mourning cries. What memories we leave behind. 4. Elusive And Effervescent Is Our Destination Water pours down outside, a distant beat pulsates very slowly. From the beatless half hour that has passed before, the very slow rhythm seems to move a lot more than it would if you listened to it separately. Still the rain pours down. One of my favourite sounds in the world is the steady stream of rain. To hear it in music like this is just lush as I can enjoy the sound at any time, not having to wait for mother nature to bless me with a downpour. The distant pulse has changed into more of a bubbly chime but keeping the same rhythm as before. Always with the rain outside. I'm happy, very happy with this track, even when it tries to get a bit glitchy (probably as glitchy as you can at this level of relaxed soundscapes). I'm not usually a fan of glitch but at this relaxed pace it sounds really cool, innovative & a nice change of pace. 5. Descending Deeper In Search Of The Timeless A long hard synth cascades down again & again as a melody tries to play in the background. Suddenly the melody is the strongest thing to come yet from the caverns of time but as strong as they come they fail to stay as melodies & become one with the cascade. The melodies try to reform in a more structured, centered & calm way but it seems they always want to blast too hard & end up cascading down with the rest of the sounds. After a while it becomes clear that the cascade has become the melody & the other sounds are becoming part of it, the longer it goes on the more sounds enter & the more leave giving us a progression that oozes class & keeps me coming back for more time & time again. 6. Reborn, We Fluctuate And Fade WOW! I mean, WOW! The vocals (real vocals, not the synths that sounded to me like vocals) in this track are by Sasha Rose & put me in mind of some Celtic movie I've seen at one time or another as the scene rolls over beautiful fields & deserted hills. The real voice seems to be mixed in with the unreal synth voices & at times it's hard to tell which is which. Like the movies I'm put in mind of, this music is very reflective, nostalgic & melancholic in an immortal kind of way. At first it seems almost like a clichéd ambient ending but it turns into so much more. It turns into the best track on the album, it turns into an ending to end time. The sort of track that if played on my death bed would surely take me over to that eternal summer of forgotten memories. So Evan easily managed to avoid the yawnbient trap. Here he has made a beatless album that not only isn't boring but actually makes me want to listen to it again & again & try to truly understand what he's getting at. I've tried to put down in words where I am with this album after about 15 listens, I feel like I've got a good grasp of where this music is trying to take me. I'm under no delusions that the journey it has taken me on is the same as the journey it will take others on & I'm sure that the journey will change, evolving as I listen to it more. A great piece of ambient. Just about as beatless as it gets with lots of synths, drones & ambients soundscapes. Limited to 777 copies, it's time to get yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melancholyman Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 I got my copy muahhh! Ye Evan is a true Genius when it comes to downtempo and ambient no question about it. I've been listening to this album about over 10 times, before going to sleep and it's funny even if I'm not tired I get into some kind of hybernate mood and slowly fades away almost falling asleep but not quite. A true masterpiece. Great review also btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goa Bill Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Looks interesting, where can I get this piece? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melancholyman Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Looks interesting, where can I get this piece? Somnia or you can order it from Ultimae! But hurry, I think they gonna sell out rather quick. He's releasing another piece and I'm gonna buy it, and I already stated to Abasio that I am getting worried about him releasing too much music. And now I see at his homepage he has yet another! release coming in februari, I mean 3 releases in the course of 3-4 months? Naa...well if it's good sure, but I'm still worried... edit: youcangetitatuiltimaeambientstore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkraver Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Reborn , We Fluctuate and Fade wow! Beautiful track. Lovely vocals. Very soulful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkraver Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 This is getting better and better with every listen If you like ambient, try it! You won't be sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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