
So, in this weeks installment of a musical Pandora’s box we have an album by German composer Oliver Haas who goes by the moniker of Aporie and his new album Temporary Meaning. Bandcamp tags the album as ambient, post rock, drone, experimental and kraut-rock, quite a stew for me to experience, lets get started shall we.
Album opener The Foundation of Being starts with a droning note which morphs and ebbs and flows around delicately picked guitar notes, it's quite beguiling and already I'm pleased with what I'm hearing. Next track An Inevitable End follows a similar template but introduces heavily distorted guitar tones towards the end of the track which adds another dimension to the drone like nature of the record. Following track The Weight of an Idea feels like a de-constructed kraut-Rock tune with everything which makes a bombastic record stripped out, then only the very basic building blocks delicately built back up again made out of nothing more than wisps of sounds.
The next few songs continue the ambient theme and I keep drifting away, thinking of sitting in a church with the worlds quietest choir singing just for me in the background, it's all very mesmeric. That is until The End of a Legacy hits with some spacey tones and shake me out of my introspection, it sounds like someone is chasing me down a corridor on an intergalactic spaceship, either that or I'm in a futuristic space buggy hurtling towards an unexplored space station, I haven't quite decided yet.
The Universe Collapsing showcases more ambient textures with an ominous base throbbing which is quite unnerving and strangely hypnotic. Buried in Time ups the tempo slightly and introduces some very relaxing piano styling to proceedings and I'm very thankful for the variety. When next track Meaning in a Meaningless World starts, I imagine the swirly 60's special effects of space films for some reason, not sure why. Final track Echo Into Void brings back the delicate guitar notes and in a very nice way brings the album back round full circle to the first song.
So, to sum up, whilst not my usual musical preference (I usually prefer things on the heavier side), I've heard enough that I like what I hear and if you like your drone and ambient music, give this a listen, you will not be disappointed.
Simon