Auntsoot - Frontier
Released: January 8
Frontier is one of those album that seems like it will be easy to predict from the start, but then it subverts expectations soon after it starts. Now, let me explain - from the first track, I got heavy vibes of drone and darker ambient music, mainly because of the very low profile the track carries on. It is a slow moving affair with a long runtime that builds ever so gradually, beginning with gentle humming that allows the very vocal quality of the production to shine though. At the start it feels almost raw in its approach but gradually turns into something much more complex, layered, and effected as the voice goes from raw to almost synthetic in its presentation. But this is also the point in which the implications of every sound originating as vocals really hit me as well as just how deep the processing of these vocals are. Auntsoot has taken a simple and raw vocal and turned it into something complex, dynamic, and otherworldly - a feat that demands attention regardless of outcome.
But following this ambient introduction, the next two tracks takes us into distorted and grungy soundscapes that seem to just seethe on their own. “Down we go” and “through the wall” feel like slow descents into madness punctuated by guttural growls and uneven sequences. And just as I thought I had figured it out, the next track takes us back to dark ambient and drone but now with - singing? Softly sung poems about war, fires, and the gods gently accompany the soft humming pads on “hell dawn” to create something so undeniably haunting that it is difficult to turn away. It brings things back to the raw vocal intimacy that was presented in the beginning of the album. It feels so strangely close and intimate, like you are right there witnessing it all unfold. Such a multifaceted work as a whole, one that makes striking contrasts and feels ever so haunting as a unified experience.
Thank you so much for this review!
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