Artist: Dahlia's Tear Title: Under Seven Skies Label: Thonar Records
Genre: Dark Ambient
01 7th Sky She Winnows The Galanthus, Synaptic State (7:11)
02 6th Sky Spellbound The Circles (6:25)
03 5th Sky Within A Dying Single Ember (8:52)
04 4th Sky Convergence & Pointless (8:11)
05 3rd Sky In-Perfection, From The Past Subconscious (3:04)
06 2nd Sky Between Lights, Unreleased Colours And Earth (8:48)
07 1st Sky Minimalism + (5:32)
When I first sat down to listen to the third full length album by the Swedish artist known as Dahlia’s Tear it was hot out. Over 100 degrees with the buzz of traffic and sweaty couples walking their dogs in the heat. Now, just a few weeks later, the fall is settling in nicely. There is a cool breeze blowing, with grey skies overhead and a gentle on-again, off-again rain blankets the city. It’s with this weather change that this album comes out in full force. In many ways it’s the perfect album for the gloomy, monochrome, yet vibrant nature of fall. Anil Emre Dedeoglu has created a masterwork of dark ambient mixed with traces of industrial atmospheres and dark electronica. Using a mixture of lush synths, buzzing, almost shoegazer sounding guitars, manipulated field recordings, droning female vocals, and subtle but driving beats, Anil creates a fully realized, enveloping world of sound.
The album begins with the rhythm heavy song “7th Sky She Winnows The Galanthus, Synaptic State”. Powerful, melodic yet ominous synths lay a thick foundation for minimal beats, and the interweaving of warm harmonic guitars fading in and out of the track. Towards the end we hear a manipulated child’s voice fade in, before disappearing back into the music. This track is a great opener in the way that it sums up the attitude of the album perfectly. The world can be a grey place but it is filled with beauty and warmth if you look hard enough. Very contemplative.
Moving on to the third song “5th Sky Within A Dying Single Ember” we are greeted with the first pure ambient track of the album. Dark symphonic pads, are layered with droning bass lines, shimmering wind chimes, and eventually the beautiful female vocals mentioned earlier. It’s a really fantastic mixture with an almost neoclassical dark atmosphere and just enough of an industrial edge to keep you in the right headspace for the rest of the album. All in all it’s a very well done album that paints beautiful, somber pictures in your head throughout it’s entirety. The album comes in a very well done digi-pack, containing nicely done photos of a gloomy grey beach (in fall?). Great atmosphere and aesthetics assure that this disc will get many plays in my home.
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