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Recycle your Ears |
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Matthew Florianz is a quite productive (dutch?) dark ambient artist, also known as Liquid Morphine and, even though this first release ever on H/S Recordings is his first CD, it is already the 8th album he releases. Coming with a nice bleak black and white sleeve, "Grijsgebied" is a very deep album of calm and soft dark ambient.
For the recording of this album Matthew Florianz has collaborated with several artists on some tracks, but the whole album sounds pretty cohesive to me. Generally speaking, these tracks are long revolving sounds capes, made of distant tones and frequencies. The whole thing is very melodic, and, even though it is "cold", its sound is what I would qualify of "human", as opposed to more atonal, dronesque ambient.
Sometimes quite menacing and tense ("Maalstroom") but often just deep and very, very atmospheric, "Grijsgebied" is an album full of shades. It reminds me in a way of "Incarnation" from The [Law-Rah] Collective, for this is also full of experimentations with original sounds and a well thought, carefully crafter album. But it sounds less "electric" and more "spacial" than "Incarnation", with also the appearance of acoustic sounds on "Nakalm", and a more relaxing, lighter sounds. But don't be mistaken, "Grijsgebied" is not a CD full of silence, this is ambient that really goes directly to your ears and your mind, and keep you listening.
I am not familiar with Liquid Morphine's other works, but I have been well surprised by this "Grijsgebied". This is for sure an album that stands for itself, presenting solid ambient tracks, and not just a collection of super calm tracks. Definitely a strong release for both the label and the artist.
~ Nicholas
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