Murkrat’s Mandy makes and appearance here with her other project Dust to Dearth, once again showing a flair for the superb operatic side of her vocal range, executed perfectly over the barrage of resonating drones and rich Dark Ambient that is the self-titled opener.
‘Winter’, is a more arcane affair; leaving the listener with an impression of a desolate freezing landscape that merges into the compositionally sound ‘It is Dark’, pandering to off key piano and pads. Whilst overtly limited, the simplistic nature of the track doesn’t overstate itself and feels intentional, rather than forced.
I am really impressed with this project, even if it doesn’t differ incredibly from the more orchestral sections of Murkrat. The sheer beauty of ‘Dearth’ and ‘The Last’ display an ear for the more ethereal side of the genre and wouldn’t be out of place sat next to many of the artists that reside under the Projekt label umbrella.
Thankfully, Lysergene carry on from where DTD left off, with a more electronic approach to their ambience that thematically wouldn’t be out of place on a shelf next to the works of Gustaf Hildebrand or earlier Sleep Research Facility.
The dualistic nature of ‘The Death of the Sun’ provides a rich tapestry of two halves that eventually fuse together; the beauty of a solar system and planets within the habitual zone and the inevitable conclusion of being swallowed up by the twilight years of a star.
9/10
Read this article on the author's website: Blackaudio.
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