Nicholas Maloney - FTES (2020)
Review by Ryan at Cassette Gods Reviews
Review by Ryan at Cassette Gods Reviews
What can JrF contact microphones, tape decks, a no-input mixing board, electronics, and field recordings get you? For Nicholas Maloney, it gets him some of the deepest, dankest low-end sound design imaginable. For its first half, FTES barely registers any treble – it scrapes the sonic depths at such frequencies that molecules are actually disturbed. Literal molecules! The resulting glitches in the space-time continuum are distinct enough to be perceptible, but they happen so quickly and so frequently that we can’t get a grasp on them. It’s like stills wound forward four frames, back two, forward another four or five, back three, moving the timeline, but oddly. The unnatural shifts in reality are like hiccups, but ones we can’t cure by drinking tall glasses of milk upside down-ish.
The end is not so interminably (but not bad interminably) low on side B, as the tones register in higher frequencies. They’re still intense, still disruptive, still massive – don’t ever get me wrong about that. By the end of the fourth track (all four untitled) it feels like you’re sitting in the middle of fission reactor at rest, radiation still vibing through your body but the works kind of shut down. Maybe FTES is meant to recreate the sound of the ghosts of nuclear reactions – I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that was its intent. Or shall I say, FTEnt? No, that’s dumb.
--Ryan
The end is not so interminably (but not bad interminably) low on side B, as the tones register in higher frequencies. They’re still intense, still disruptive, still massive – don’t ever get me wrong about that. By the end of the fourth track (all four untitled) it feels like you’re sitting in the middle of fission reactor at rest, radiation still vibing through your body but the works kind of shut down. Maybe FTES is meant to recreate the sound of the ghosts of nuclear reactions – I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that was its intent. Or shall I say, FTEnt? No, that’s dumb.
--Ryan
Nicholas Maloney - Lignum Muzek (2020)
Feature by Nathan Yonder of Deepest Currents
Feature by Nathan Yonder of Deepest Currents
Album of the Week - Nicholas Maloney - Lignum Muzek
In case you haven't experienced enough unsettledness in 2020, here is an offering of longform pieces characterized by backwoods field recordings, industrial noise, building bass pressure, and spans of eerie silence. On his sprawling (107-minute!) Lignum Muzek, sound artist Nicholas Maloney takes us around Jackson, Mississippi - his hometown. But this visit does not include any TripAdvisor recommendations. While Lignum Muzek certainly includes moments of beauty, most sounds are alien, and often terrifying.
Maloney uses a bit of standard instrumentation on his most recent drop (some strings, some woodwinds, some organ - all fairly unrecognizable), but also a good amount of synthesized drone and manipulated tape. Various found sounds come through as well, both organic and manmade. To give you an idea, "wood" is listed as a primary source of noise here. But as alluded to once already, the absence of sound is perhaps the most striking quality of Maloney's constructions. It can give the feeling of impending dread, like the rising action to a horror movie's climax. As a guide, Maloney takes us into overgrown forests, through abandoned scrapyards, and into the dead of night. Just what we need in these final dark days of 2020.
If the album's length feels too daunting, we would suggest starting with the 38-minute track, Lignum Muzek 2. And yeah, that's still pretty long, but it's a good cross-section of the many moods and textures found on the rest of the album. Below is a Bandcamp link through enmossed, so check it out.
In case you haven't experienced enough unsettledness in 2020, here is an offering of longform pieces characterized by backwoods field recordings, industrial noise, building bass pressure, and spans of eerie silence. On his sprawling (107-minute!) Lignum Muzek, sound artist Nicholas Maloney takes us around Jackson, Mississippi - his hometown. But this visit does not include any TripAdvisor recommendations. While Lignum Muzek certainly includes moments of beauty, most sounds are alien, and often terrifying.
Maloney uses a bit of standard instrumentation on his most recent drop (some strings, some woodwinds, some organ - all fairly unrecognizable), but also a good amount of synthesized drone and manipulated tape. Various found sounds come through as well, both organic and manmade. To give you an idea, "wood" is listed as a primary source of noise here. But as alluded to once already, the absence of sound is perhaps the most striking quality of Maloney's constructions. It can give the feeling of impending dread, like the rising action to a horror movie's climax. As a guide, Maloney takes us into overgrown forests, through abandoned scrapyards, and into the dead of night. Just what we need in these final dark days of 2020.
If the album's length feels too daunting, we would suggest starting with the 38-minute track, Lignum Muzek 2. And yeah, that's still pretty long, but it's a good cross-section of the many moods and textures found on the rest of the album. Below is a Bandcamp link through enmossed, so check it out.
[Translation from Dutch to English:]
Nicholas Maloney is an American musician and sound artist who currently resides in Cork, Ireland. He makes music under his own name and under the names Sleep Silver Lightning and Blanket Swimming. Two months ago the album A Connexion and Singularity was released under the latter banner by the American Humanhood Recordings.
Maloney is mainly active in ambient, drone, music concrète and minimalism. He creates personal, visual works, in which he is interested in the interaction between texture, sound and space. Where he makes compositions under his own name using field recordings, found sounds and electronics and under the title Sleep Silver Lightning brings compositions for guitar and vocals, there he uses the name Blanket Swimming for his experimental ambient / drone compositions using from guitar, synthesizers, tape manipulation, field recordings, voice and other instrumentation. So there is a demarcation, although there is also some overlap in the projects of the musician.
What becomes especially clear on the album A Connexion and Singularity is that Maloney has not made a uniform album. The music falls within the ambient / drone pattern, but the tracks are not alike. The instrumentation and the sounds used are diverse, which means that each of the fifteen tracks in total has its own specific characteristics and also has a distinctive character in terms of sound.
Nevertheless, Maloney is careful not to create an eclectic album, because despite the differences in sound, texture, density and instrumentation and a big difference in length of the pieces, he knows how to tell a coherent musical story with the album as a whole. That is an abstract story, but one with a clear course that cannot be changed just like that. For example, Blanket Swimming's music has a clarity that also remains intact in the tracks dominated by field recordings. The emotion that is evoked also remains fairly constant during the thirty-seven minutes that the album takes to complete, although there are some shifts.
This emotion is directly evoked in the first two pieces, 'A Formless, Shallow Dive' and 'Knowledge of the Dream' and can be described as melancholic serenity. The musical landscape is sloping, the path through it is easily accessible, with the second track having a dark edge that is missing from the opening track. After the first two pieces, ambient sounds take over and the great thing about Blanket Swimming is that he lets that happen in a way that does not involve a drastic change in the musical narrative.
Also further on, music and field recordings (the origin of which is often difficult to determine) are alternated, whereby movement, texture and density of the sounds determine the sound pattern. This movement takes place without haste and sometimes it is almost inaudible, while a development is indeed underway. Blanket Swimming's ambient / drone music is more or less layered, but never tends to lean towards orchestral or bombastic music.
Incidentally, there is tension in the calm control. This is especially evident in 'Impact Rewound', in which just below the clear surface the tones harmonize in such a way that they evoke tension. That tension is exacerbated by the undecipherable field recordings on which 'A Result and Ultimate' is based. Most attention deserves, however, the beautiful 'In Tar Drenched Memories', in which with a range of sounds audible and tangible a somewhat gloomy but also somewhat diffuse emotion is conveyed that nevertheless really comes in. Pain and beauty seem to be close together.
Blanket Swimming knows how to achieve a great effect, both musically and emotionally, with a limited number of means. Some tracks take barely a minute, but still manage to immediately create an atmosphere that works on the feeling. In the last part of the album some more dark tones emerge. A Connexion and Singularity is a strong ambient / drone album in which variety and continuity are not contradictory concepts, but turn out to go hand in hand.
Nicholas Maloney is an American musician and sound artist who currently resides in Cork, Ireland. He makes music under his own name and under the names Sleep Silver Lightning and Blanket Swimming. Two months ago the album A Connexion and Singularity was released under the latter banner by the American Humanhood Recordings.
Maloney is mainly active in ambient, drone, music concrète and minimalism. He creates personal, visual works, in which he is interested in the interaction between texture, sound and space. Where he makes compositions under his own name using field recordings, found sounds and electronics and under the title Sleep Silver Lightning brings compositions for guitar and vocals, there he uses the name Blanket Swimming for his experimental ambient / drone compositions using from guitar, synthesizers, tape manipulation, field recordings, voice and other instrumentation. So there is a demarcation, although there is also some overlap in the projects of the musician.
What becomes especially clear on the album A Connexion and Singularity is that Maloney has not made a uniform album. The music falls within the ambient / drone pattern, but the tracks are not alike. The instrumentation and the sounds used are diverse, which means that each of the fifteen tracks in total has its own specific characteristics and also has a distinctive character in terms of sound.
Nevertheless, Maloney is careful not to create an eclectic album, because despite the differences in sound, texture, density and instrumentation and a big difference in length of the pieces, he knows how to tell a coherent musical story with the album as a whole. That is an abstract story, but one with a clear course that cannot be changed just like that. For example, Blanket Swimming's music has a clarity that also remains intact in the tracks dominated by field recordings. The emotion that is evoked also remains fairly constant during the thirty-seven minutes that the album takes to complete, although there are some shifts.
This emotion is directly evoked in the first two pieces, 'A Formless, Shallow Dive' and 'Knowledge of the Dream' and can be described as melancholic serenity. The musical landscape is sloping, the path through it is easily accessible, with the second track having a dark edge that is missing from the opening track. After the first two pieces, ambient sounds take over and the great thing about Blanket Swimming is that he lets that happen in a way that does not involve a drastic change in the musical narrative.
Also further on, music and field recordings (the origin of which is often difficult to determine) are alternated, whereby movement, texture and density of the sounds determine the sound pattern. This movement takes place without haste and sometimes it is almost inaudible, while a development is indeed underway. Blanket Swimming's ambient / drone music is more or less layered, but never tends to lean towards orchestral or bombastic music.
Incidentally, there is tension in the calm control. This is especially evident in 'Impact Rewound', in which just below the clear surface the tones harmonize in such a way that they evoke tension. That tension is exacerbated by the undecipherable field recordings on which 'A Result and Ultimate' is based. Most attention deserves, however, the beautiful 'In Tar Drenched Memories', in which with a range of sounds audible and tangible a somewhat gloomy but also somewhat diffuse emotion is conveyed that nevertheless really comes in. Pain and beauty seem to be close together.
Blanket Swimming knows how to achieve a great effect, both musically and emotionally, with a limited number of means. Some tracks take barely a minute, but still manage to immediately create an atmosphere that works on the feeling. In the last part of the album some more dark tones emerge. A Connexion and Singularity is a strong ambient / drone album in which variety and continuity are not contradictory concepts, but turn out to go hand in hand.
Heures troubles.
Difficile d'aligner quelques lignes, hors contexte.
Difficile.
Difficile de n'apercevoir qu'une surface, un survol de celle-ci.
Très heureux "hasard" de "circonstance" que cette lightning gallery
de MM. Nicholas Maloney et Dominic Razlaff qui, par ce même et très probablement moins heureux "hasard", pourrait si facilement "disparaitre" d'un monde, qui est encore présentement celui d'avant.
Vicissitudes des interstices spatio-temporels ? (oh la la).
Présages d'une désormais opérante falsification de l'histoire de nos évidences ?
Mais surtout - Que demeure cette pure pépite : "Magnanimity".
thierry massard / 4 avril 2020 - 22:42
[English:]
Troubled hours.
Difficult to align a few lines, out of context.
Difficult.
Difficult to see only one surface, an overview of it.
Very happy "chance" of "circumstance" that this lightning gallery
of Mr. Nicholas Maloney and Dominic Razlaff who, by this very and very probably less happy "chance", could so easily "disappear" from a world, which is still presently that of before.
Vicissitudes of space-time gaps? (Oh la la).
Heralding a now operative falsification of the history of our evidence?
But above all - Let this pure nugget remain: "Magnanimity".
thierry massard / April 4, 2020 - 22:
Difficile d'aligner quelques lignes, hors contexte.
Difficile.
Difficile de n'apercevoir qu'une surface, un survol de celle-ci.
Très heureux "hasard" de "circonstance" que cette lightning gallery
de MM. Nicholas Maloney et Dominic Razlaff qui, par ce même et très probablement moins heureux "hasard", pourrait si facilement "disparaitre" d'un monde, qui est encore présentement celui d'avant.
Vicissitudes des interstices spatio-temporels ? (oh la la).
Présages d'une désormais opérante falsification de l'histoire de nos évidences ?
Mais surtout - Que demeure cette pure pépite : "Magnanimity".
thierry massard / 4 avril 2020 - 22:42
[English:]
Troubled hours.
Difficult to align a few lines, out of context.
Difficult.
Difficult to see only one surface, an overview of it.
Very happy "chance" of "circumstance" that this lightning gallery
of Mr. Nicholas Maloney and Dominic Razlaff who, by this very and very probably less happy "chance", could so easily "disappear" from a world, which is still presently that of before.
Vicissitudes of space-time gaps? (Oh la la).
Heralding a now operative falsification of the history of our evidence?
But above all - Let this pure nugget remain: "Magnanimity".
thierry massard / April 4, 2020 - 22:
I have to admit the name Blanket Swimming threw me. I had expectations of the style of music based on 80’s synth styles from people born well after the fact, you know the whole “looking through the prism of the past from things I have read about / heard”. Instead what you get with Blanket Swimming’s album is two long form pieces of subtle, glacial paced ambience that feels like a perfect sort of soundtrack for the uncertain times we live in. It can be difficult in describing pieces like these as they rely on such small movement of sound, sometimes spread out and using repetitive phrases as a major part of their pieces.
With the title track Maloney uses delicate drones which are almost like gentle waves with melodic tones and ever so slightly plays with the textures and intensities and he infuses the piece with a variety of field recordings. Maloney is no rush which allows him to build and work on his piece over the duration. This is also felt on “Look At The Cypress In The Courtyard” which has a more classical meets William Basinski feel and shows Maloney at his best as he creates build up after build up with slight dips in the intensity of each section. As the piece progresses you begin to notice the ultra subtle changes in the sounds and how the attention veers from sound to sound as well as barely noticeable degradation which tends to come into focus in the last third of the piece.
With these two piece Maloney while not re-inventing the wheel, clearly shows that he is adept at the more minimal forms of music which can be used to calm the listener as much as they can transport them away. The two pieces have their own essence while retaining a similar kernal of an idea. With what is happening now music like this becomes somewhat of a release. “The Sunroom” is available on limited CD (60 copies) and Digital.
With the title track Maloney uses delicate drones which are almost like gentle waves with melodic tones and ever so slightly plays with the textures and intensities and he infuses the piece with a variety of field recordings. Maloney is no rush which allows him to build and work on his piece over the duration. This is also felt on “Look At The Cypress In The Courtyard” which has a more classical meets William Basinski feel and shows Maloney at his best as he creates build up after build up with slight dips in the intensity of each section. As the piece progresses you begin to notice the ultra subtle changes in the sounds and how the attention veers from sound to sound as well as barely noticeable degradation which tends to come into focus in the last third of the piece.
With these two piece Maloney while not re-inventing the wheel, clearly shows that he is adept at the more minimal forms of music which can be used to calm the listener as much as they can transport them away. The two pieces have their own essence while retaining a similar kernal of an idea. With what is happening now music like this becomes somewhat of a release. “The Sunroom” is available on limited CD (60 copies) and Digital.
Istante che si cristallizza divenendo espanso frangente in vaporoso navigare, privo di confini e definizione temporale. Sono ricordi tramutati in dilatati riverberi sonori quelli che informano i due lunghi flussi raccolti nel nuovo lavoro di Nicholas Maloney sotto l’alias Blanket Swimming, sensazioni vivide fissate per divenire tracce indelebili del proprio vissuto.
Sinuose correnti sintetiche evolvono placidamente costruendo un duplice percorso emozionale ispirato da diverse visioni, accomunate dal medesimo impatto. Quieto e luminoso, il primo dei due tracciati, che dà il titolo all’album, si sviluppa come rarefatta immersione nella memoria dalla cui calda evanescenza emergono frammentarie scie ambientali, realizzando un incedere silente e avvolgente che conduce verso territori onirici e rinfrancanti. Notturna e malinconica è invece la successiva deriva, scandita da un andamento ciclico ossessivo e permeato da sommessa inquietudine, un avanzare ostinato e attonito che lentamente si dissolve lasciando riverberare la suo eco nel terminale silenzio.
Atmosferica ipnosi.
[English:]
An instant that crystallizes becoming an expanded jumbled surf, without boundaries and temporal definition. Memories transformed into dilated sound reverberations are those that inform the two long flows collected in the new work of Nicholas Maloney under the alias Blanket Swimming, vivid sensations set to become indelible traces of one's own experience.
Sinuous synthetic currents evolve placidly building a double emotional path inspired by different visions, united by the same impact. Quiet and bright, the first of the two tracks, which gives the album its title, develops as a rarefied immersion in memory from whose warm evanescence fragmentary environmental trails emerge, creating a silent and enveloping gait that leads to dreamlike and refreshing territories. The subsequent drift is nocturnal and melancholic, marked by an obsessive cyclical trend and permeated by subdued restlessness, a stubborn and stunned progress that slowly dissolves, leaving its echo reverberating in the terminal silence.
Atmospheric hypnosis.
Sinuose correnti sintetiche evolvono placidamente costruendo un duplice percorso emozionale ispirato da diverse visioni, accomunate dal medesimo impatto. Quieto e luminoso, il primo dei due tracciati, che dà il titolo all’album, si sviluppa come rarefatta immersione nella memoria dalla cui calda evanescenza emergono frammentarie scie ambientali, realizzando un incedere silente e avvolgente che conduce verso territori onirici e rinfrancanti. Notturna e malinconica è invece la successiva deriva, scandita da un andamento ciclico ossessivo e permeato da sommessa inquietudine, un avanzare ostinato e attonito che lentamente si dissolve lasciando riverberare la suo eco nel terminale silenzio.
Atmosferica ipnosi.
[English:]
An instant that crystallizes becoming an expanded jumbled surf, without boundaries and temporal definition. Memories transformed into dilated sound reverberations are those that inform the two long flows collected in the new work of Nicholas Maloney under the alias Blanket Swimming, vivid sensations set to become indelible traces of one's own experience.
Sinuous synthetic currents evolve placidly building a double emotional path inspired by different visions, united by the same impact. Quiet and bright, the first of the two tracks, which gives the album its title, develops as a rarefied immersion in memory from whose warm evanescence fragmentary environmental trails emerge, creating a silent and enveloping gait that leads to dreamlike and refreshing territories. The subsequent drift is nocturnal and melancholic, marked by an obsessive cyclical trend and permeated by subdued restlessness, a stubborn and stunned progress that slowly dissolves, leaving its echo reverberating in the terminal silence.
Atmospheric hypnosis.
Blanket Swimming - The Sunroom (2020)
Review by Visual Complexity.
"'The Sunroom' is a light and peaceful journey of nature and your most cherished memories. The artwork is absolutely perfect for the theme given, which allows you to imagine yourself there. The title track is just unforgettable."
Review by Lost Tribe Sound.
"I appreciate the stillness of these recordings. Really great use of environmental recordings and subtle electronic emissions. Retains just the right amount of musicality throughout."
Review by Visual Complexity.
"'The Sunroom' is a light and peaceful journey of nature and your most cherished memories. The artwork is absolutely perfect for the theme given, which allows you to imagine yourself there. The title track is just unforgettable."
Review by Lost Tribe Sound.
"I appreciate the stillness of these recordings. Really great use of environmental recordings and subtle electronic emissions. Retains just the right amount of musicality throughout."
Also, a new name for me is Nicolas Maloney, from Jackson, Mississippi and who works in
the "areas of drone, ambient, musique concrète, and electroacoustic music [...] He is interested in
the interaction among texture, sound, and space". He has had some releases out on Warm Milk
Recordings (his label), Green Field Recordings, Somewherecold Records and Humanhood
Recordings. He also works as Blanket Swimming and Sleep Silver Lightning, and as a "guitarist/
vocalist for experimental/post-rock band, The Empty Handed Painters as well as the guitarist/
vocalist for experimental/lo-fi/garage-rock/noise rock trio, The Villetown Mountain Army Brigade".
The work he releases under his name deals with field recordings, found sounds and the
manipulation of both. Following the blast just delivered by Chlorine, this is a wealth of calm
sounds. Much of it deals with a very quiet approach and things can be near-silent for a longer
time. Here one has no idea what the field recordings originally sounded like, such as the level of
processing here as well. But unlike Chlorine things aren't blown out of proportions, but it also
sounds very subdued. Like it has been covered with a blanket, muffled away and occasionally
this blanket is so thick there is hardly any sound. In 'Persune' Maloney uses the form of start/stop
collage to produce this before going into a droney field. "Balline' and 'Solast' are straightforward
pieces of drone music, slowly fading in and out, sounding like a massive storm approaching and
leaving. In 'Quiete' the wind blows also but in quicker curves. I very much enjoyed the subdued
character of all of this and Maloney's daring move to include quite a bit of silence.
the "areas of drone, ambient, musique concrète, and electroacoustic music [...] He is interested in
the interaction among texture, sound, and space". He has had some releases out on Warm Milk
Recordings (his label), Green Field Recordings, Somewherecold Records and Humanhood
Recordings. He also works as Blanket Swimming and Sleep Silver Lightning, and as a "guitarist/
vocalist for experimental/post-rock band, The Empty Handed Painters as well as the guitarist/
vocalist for experimental/lo-fi/garage-rock/noise rock trio, The Villetown Mountain Army Brigade".
The work he releases under his name deals with field recordings, found sounds and the
manipulation of both. Following the blast just delivered by Chlorine, this is a wealth of calm
sounds. Much of it deals with a very quiet approach and things can be near-silent for a longer
time. Here one has no idea what the field recordings originally sounded like, such as the level of
processing here as well. But unlike Chlorine things aren't blown out of proportions, but it also
sounds very subdued. Like it has been covered with a blanket, muffled away and occasionally
this blanket is so thick there is hardly any sound. In 'Persune' Maloney uses the form of start/stop
collage to produce this before going into a droney field. "Balline' and 'Solast' are straightforward
pieces of drone music, slowly fading in and out, sounding like a massive storm approaching and
leaving. In 'Quiete' the wind blows also but in quicker curves. I very much enjoyed the subdued
character of all of this and Maloney's daring move to include quite a bit of silence.
Before you hit the play button below, read this and try to imagine what the music may sound like:
“Perpetual Seeds for Fleeting Time explores 6 unique methods of composition with a unifying thread of present non-dualism and the expounding of heavy emotion through a fluid stream of expressionistic soundwaves.” Got that? Now hit Play.
Personally, I have no clue what “a unifying thread of present non-dualism” means, but I cán imagine what “(heavy) emotion through a fluid stream of expressionistic soundwaves” may sound like. And listening to the album confirms my thoughts.
Blanket Swimming is Nicholas Maloney from Jackson Mississippi. He releases his music under his full name and various aliases: the Blanket Swimming alias is reserved for exploring experimental/ambient/and drone compositions. He has released albums under this name since 2015 (four albums in 2019 alone, one of which is Perpetual Seeds..).
The methods of composition on this album include guitar, synth, voice samples, the recorded resonance of rooms, contact mic’d hollow guitar bodies (to pick up external vibrations), and a recorded stream.
The result are (six) compositions that indeed are quite emotional. The extent to which these emotions are heavy or expressionistic (as opposed to impressionistic or introvert) is in the ear of the beholder.
“Perpetual Seeds for Fleeting Time explores 6 unique methods of composition with a unifying thread of present non-dualism and the expounding of heavy emotion through a fluid stream of expressionistic soundwaves.” Got that? Now hit Play.
Personally, I have no clue what “a unifying thread of present non-dualism” means, but I cán imagine what “(heavy) emotion through a fluid stream of expressionistic soundwaves” may sound like. And listening to the album confirms my thoughts.
Blanket Swimming is Nicholas Maloney from Jackson Mississippi. He releases his music under his full name and various aliases: the Blanket Swimming alias is reserved for exploring experimental/ambient/and drone compositions. He has released albums under this name since 2015 (four albums in 2019 alone, one of which is Perpetual Seeds..).
The methods of composition on this album include guitar, synth, voice samples, the recorded resonance of rooms, contact mic’d hollow guitar bodies (to pick up external vibrations), and a recorded stream.
The result are (six) compositions that indeed are quite emotional. The extent to which these emotions are heavy or expressionistic (as opposed to impressionistic or introvert) is in the ear of the beholder.
Blanket Swimming - "Empty" from Perpetual Seeds For Fleeting Time (2019)
Review by ISSUES Magazine:
Review by ISSUES Magazine:
Nicholas Maloney | Water Studies
Somewherecold Records (CD/DL)
Mississippi-based Nicholas Maloney brings his debut solo EP via Somewherecold Records, two Water Studies (Study for Moving Water and Study for Still Water). It’s also limited to only forty-five copies if you dig bespoke handmade and numbered discs. Recorded in Iceland as well as on the Pearl River in his home state, this starts off kind of like a muffled babbling brook of some sort. And though he utilizes field recordings, his interpretation is universally quite of the electronic ilk, down low drone that is rather soothing for the most part. As it ‘flows’ things become more fluid and lucid. And suddenly there’s an exhaust valve that lets go, with a coarse hiss, and these textures begin to change in multiple stages, quieting and deepening.
A break of silence then leads to a gentle distant rumble, like a massage of whitenoise. As it howls mildly, like the vibration on a windscreen, one might imagine a still low tide by the end of this sonic work that runs nearly seventeen minutes. Study for Still Waterhas a submerged feel. A very introspective listen, even with distant sirens and its looping, raspy cadences. And as the final stretch begins there’s a balance between open air and perhaps a soft rain that drifts off fairly quickly. A rare very immersive and subtle record.
Somewherecold Records (CD/DL)
Mississippi-based Nicholas Maloney brings his debut solo EP via Somewherecold Records, two Water Studies (Study for Moving Water and Study for Still Water). It’s also limited to only forty-five copies if you dig bespoke handmade and numbered discs. Recorded in Iceland as well as on the Pearl River in his home state, this starts off kind of like a muffled babbling brook of some sort. And though he utilizes field recordings, his interpretation is universally quite of the electronic ilk, down low drone that is rather soothing for the most part. As it ‘flows’ things become more fluid and lucid. And suddenly there’s an exhaust valve that lets go, with a coarse hiss, and these textures begin to change in multiple stages, quieting and deepening.
A break of silence then leads to a gentle distant rumble, like a massage of whitenoise. As it howls mildly, like the vibration on a windscreen, one might imagine a still low tide by the end of this sonic work that runs nearly seventeen minutes. Study for Still Waterhas a submerged feel. A very introspective listen, even with distant sirens and its looping, raspy cadences. And as the final stretch begins there’s a balance between open air and perhaps a soft rain that drifts off fairly quickly. A rare very immersive and subtle record.
Blanket Swimming - Lighten (2019)
-Review by ISSUES Magazine:
-Review by ISSUES Magazine:
Blanket Swimming
Open Colour (Histamine Tapes; CS/DL)
Mississippi sound project Blanket Swimming (Nick M.) has just put out their second release on this limited edition cassette (ed of 30) on Vermont’s slow-growing Histamine Tapes. It’s a dusty buzz Western guitar drone, layered with a slow-roasted harmony. Each track, Open Colour pts. 1-5 build on each other nicely in the chasm ‘tween shoegaze and industrial collapse. The is one of those ambient/noise records that often slips through the cracks because of its limited release, and even though this is on the darker side of the spectrum, don’t let it lose the light edge of your eardrums.
WARM DRONES + PEDAL TONES: From the looks of it, this handmade edition even sports multiple options when it comes to cover art, giving it even more of an underground art flair, “with hand cut j cards from Barre Granite Museum brochures.” Once into part three things become rapt with watery field recordings and a dynamic clash between layers, while maintaining a rather low, mostly ambient profile. It’s a stratified, flowing drone that has a scintillating improvisational quality. There are also distant bellowing vocal treatments which are like the ghosts of the Beach Boys’ past.
One thing I find most appealing on this tape is the collage techniques that blend the coherent edit with raw, physical, homemade manifestations. It’s as if I’m meant to hear the musicality while being allowed to see the seams, the process. But like all interesting compositions this only allows snippets to tease you, back and forth, playing on your sense of awareness and lightness of being simultaneously. This set of treatments is most sublime on Open Colour pt.4 – a truly elusive and beautiful work, bathed in erosivity. There are a thousand voices built-in, based on introspection, memory. Finally on part five a forlorn set of drunken strings rise from the ashy drone, eclipsing the mood like a lullaby for the dead. It’s timbre is ambiguous, it’s pace is all forward motion, like a river running dry into the freeze of Winter.
Open Colour (Histamine Tapes; CS/DL)
Mississippi sound project Blanket Swimming (Nick M.) has just put out their second release on this limited edition cassette (ed of 30) on Vermont’s slow-growing Histamine Tapes. It’s a dusty buzz Western guitar drone, layered with a slow-roasted harmony. Each track, Open Colour pts. 1-5 build on each other nicely in the chasm ‘tween shoegaze and industrial collapse. The is one of those ambient/noise records that often slips through the cracks because of its limited release, and even though this is on the darker side of the spectrum, don’t let it lose the light edge of your eardrums.
WARM DRONES + PEDAL TONES: From the looks of it, this handmade edition even sports multiple options when it comes to cover art, giving it even more of an underground art flair, “with hand cut j cards from Barre Granite Museum brochures.” Once into part three things become rapt with watery field recordings and a dynamic clash between layers, while maintaining a rather low, mostly ambient profile. It’s a stratified, flowing drone that has a scintillating improvisational quality. There are also distant bellowing vocal treatments which are like the ghosts of the Beach Boys’ past.
One thing I find most appealing on this tape is the collage techniques that blend the coherent edit with raw, physical, homemade manifestations. It’s as if I’m meant to hear the musicality while being allowed to see the seams, the process. But like all interesting compositions this only allows snippets to tease you, back and forth, playing on your sense of awareness and lightness of being simultaneously. This set of treatments is most sublime on Open Colour pt.4 – a truly elusive and beautiful work, bathed in erosivity. There are a thousand voices built-in, based on introspection, memory. Finally on part five a forlorn set of drunken strings rise from the ashy drone, eclipsing the mood like a lullaby for the dead. It’s timbre is ambiguous, it’s pace is all forward motion, like a river running dry into the freeze of Winter.
Blanket Swimming - Open Colour (2018)
Review by Stephen Curley of Sailing Stone Records:
Blanket Swimming has the rare talent of straddling both melancholy drones and uplifting melodies which is honed even further on the release, Open Colour. The album’s opening track features a pulsing bed of sound slowly morphing into anxious synths through the track’s two-minute run time. As Open Colour progresses, Blanket Swimming conjures melodic soundscapes exercising the construction/ destruction of stereo drones with found sounds and ethereal vocal loops striking lasting emotional impressions. Nick’s use of field recordings in harmony with instrumental sections results in a dreamlike tug-of-war with the listener’s ears. Open Colour’s masterful closer breathes a sum of emotions found in one thoroughly composed eight-minute track. Blanket Swimming’s control over soundwaves resonates emotionally and subconsciously throughout Open Colour. I have a feeling each revisit of Open Colour will yield a new discovery.
Review by Stephen Curley of Sailing Stone Records:
Blanket Swimming has the rare talent of straddling both melancholy drones and uplifting melodies which is honed even further on the release, Open Colour. The album’s opening track features a pulsing bed of sound slowly morphing into anxious synths through the track’s two-minute run time. As Open Colour progresses, Blanket Swimming conjures melodic soundscapes exercising the construction/ destruction of stereo drones with found sounds and ethereal vocal loops striking lasting emotional impressions. Nick’s use of field recordings in harmony with instrumental sections results in a dreamlike tug-of-war with the listener’s ears. Open Colour’s masterful closer breathes a sum of emotions found in one thoroughly composed eight-minute track. Blanket Swimming’s control over soundwaves resonates emotionally and subconsciously throughout Open Colour. I have a feeling each revisit of Open Colour will yield a new discovery.
Blanket Swimming is for fans of serious drones,
moody shines and the glint and glisten of
fluid sound waves. A study in form, flow
and texture, Blanket Swimming shows
the shifting sands of ability, and
talent through unearthed
audio treasures on this
wonderful recording.
Goodnight Jungle.
moody shines and the glint and glisten of
fluid sound waves. A study in form, flow
and texture, Blanket Swimming shows
the shifting sands of ability, and
talent through unearthed
audio treasures on this
wonderful recording.
Goodnight Jungle.
