Swanyard - Methuselah

 Released: August 23

This new album from Swanyard sounds like it takes place mainly near a dark and dreary coast, embodying this environmental aesthetic through a series of dark ambient compositions. It starts out with the almost atonal "Unknown Coastal Line" that leans heavily on a field recording that captures the sea perfectly - the ever-present dull roar of the ocean, the errant sound of a seagull buried under the ambiance, and the altogether liminal feeling of the environment. It feels as though it could be any rocky coast while also being none of them. As the recording plays out, it is soon joined by a dour pad that feels more like atmosphere than tone, though its eerie echoes give a tonal quality. 

The album continues on, keeping the same foggy and ghostly aura about it, with "Flora" and "Tranquil Grotto. " These two tracks bring the slightest bit of brightness to the experience with tones hovering around in the darker regions and occasionally glinting towards brighter spaces. Both feel a bit like staring at an almost entirely grey sky as small bits of sunlight occasionally poke through, creating a sense of mystery and intrigue. But the next track, "Vessel" brings out quite the surprise as we are introduced to the track with a thick bassline and a sparse drumkit. It fits in well with the rest of the album as the gloomy tones of the pads come into the mix, but it definitely feels like a slight detour into a doom jazz dirge. But the bass on the track is just absolute top notch. 

From this point on, the album becomes much more atonal as we get all sorts of interesting textures that feel like they could be from real places, but also feel too foreign to place. Bubbling, gurgling, and aphonic noises come through on the next two tracks, "Suspended in the Endless Void" and "Vast Floor." The heaviness of these two isn't lost on me as the atmosphere they both create feels thick and almost suffocating. It's not until the final track that this lets up in any way. Even then, "Resurfacing" still feels like it carries some of the tarry residue that swallows up the listener following the turning point of "Vessel." It makes for an interesting counterpoint to the first half of the album.