Genre: Experimental / Psychedelic / Field Recordings
01 Hibernator
02 The Queen Awakens
03 Stabbing Sisters
04 Orgy in the Air
05 Milky White Maggots
06 Swarm or Die!
Surface Hoar's MySpace is entitled "Electro-acoustic nonsense". The guy
who's behind SH (his name is Matthew Amundsen according to the booklet) has
released only an EP yet, so "These Terrible Dreams" is the debut album. And
to tell you the truth this debut is promising!
The 100 copies limited edition is CDR + cover printed on vellum and handmade
paper packed in plastic. It's real pleasure to keep hold of it! Each copy is
numbered by hand (mine is #43) - claaaaassic.
The atmosphere is spooky and thrilling but not horrifying. It's not much of
an atmosphere in loads of experimental electroacoustic stuff. Surface Hoar's
world is more... mysterious... mmm.... intimate... and weird. Yeah, weird!
The music is full of samples (field recordings as far as I can understand
from MySpace). Some of them are distinct (birds for example), others aren't.
But these are not stretched-length soundwaves made out of found sounds!
Sometimes when a bizzare woooh is repeated - it seems like very minimalistic
psych-folk without vocals. The other way it is radically abstract minimal
techno. Or illbient. Or clicks'n'cuts.
If "Hibernator" is preparing us for the strange sound garden we are about to
visit then "The Queen Awakens" takes us deeper in spooky mood with quiet low
drones, chains and some aliens talking to each other. Then we got four most
intense tracks that are well done experimental psychedelia. You can find the
list of sound objects used at the webpage but you still won't have the clear
picture in your mind. I haven't heard anything similar to what Surface
Hoar's doing. Unstable rhythm structures mix with dark ambient pieces and
buzzing parts, humming goes with natural noises - it's like every sound is
flying in a dark room and you're running in circles trying to catch some
(and the room itself is flipping again and again).
The complex and thoughtful work yet not turning into a hard nut. Simply
beautiful and highly recommended. Hooray!
