Genre: Minimal/Dark Ambient/Drone
Track Listing:
01 Astral
Another odd little disc from one Thomas Park, the brain behind the relentlessly prolific unit Mystified.
This one comes with a new title, his new unit Mister Vapor, with which he has already put out a considerable number of CD-R’s already!! There is most definitely no rest for this man, nor seemingly an end to his obscure mysterious nature.
Like Mystified, his releases are mostly on mp3 or CD-R. His first release was audio-visual in the form of a DVD-R. This one was issued by the interesting Dutch label, Witte Dood records, who have many stipulations on releases, only one track, one word title, on a 3” CD-R, and that one track MUST be either 333, 666, 999, or 1332 seconds long, limited to 33 copies. With those rules in play, let’s see how Mister Vapor holds up:
Aside from Mystified, Mr. Park describes Vapor as “misty, hazy, mysterious ambient”. While Mystified would qualify as minimalist, yet still active electronic ambience, Mister Vapor is VERY minimalist, and relies not so much on structure, rhythm, or melody as sheer texture. Abstract atmosphere is the game here.
Anyhow, what this release, Astral, presents is nothing short of an amoeboid cloud of sound, starting out formless, and as it progresses, morphs into different faces, forms, and illusions before melting back into and rejoining the cloud. One song, 999 seconds long, represents a single ritual drone of subtle sound transformations.
In a way, this sort of bears similarity to some of the stuff I’ve heard from Dark Muse. Starting out very simple, usually a single sound and then stretching this sound out to its fullest range and capacity, transforming it into an ocean of shifting layers while slowly drawing in the mind. The same formula applies here, only I don’t believe it really is a solid source sound as much as multiple sounds drawn out of an echo. At the core of this recording, the sound resembles some sort of echoed chime, but later onward this echo is rolled around and round into a lush tapestry of vibrations, through which the original sound source occasionally shows it’s face briefly before disappearing back into the cloud it created.
One can definitely say, this sound is very alive! At its heart is a pulse, and a sentience. It rolls and wisps through your senses until at last you are enveloped and breathing its fumes.
For sleeping, meditating, reading, relaxing, or during whatever ritual suits your desire, this disc is ideal. This disc would surely appeal to dark ambient purists, fans of minimal/drone music, or fans of some of the more minimal work by Steve Roach, John Oswald, or Brian Eno.
Play on repeat for maximum results!!
Now I look forward to future organisms which may take form from the mist of Thomas Park’s imagination! Reflecting my feelings about Mystified, let’s see what he can do with a full-length!!
