Fear Falls Burning – “We Slowly Lift Ourselves From Dust ” – [a Silent Place]

Max Level   2/10/2007   10-inch, A Library

Interesting atmospherics by way of Belgium. The one-man drone project Vidna Obmana also plays solo guitar as FFB. Here he performs two long drone-driven pieces completely live, direct-to-digital, with no editing or overdubs. Side A (13:57) starts with a deep, slow, stoner fuzz loop, then adds other subtle, shimmering loop activities as it goes along. The fuzz guitar fades away at perhaps the nine-minute mark, leaving us with an airy Emaj chord (think ???In A Silent Way??? by Miles Davis) to carry us home. Strangely, this side cuts off cold at the end, goes silent for about ten seconds, then returns for one final quiet chord. So it???s not quite over when you think it is. Side B (13:47) picks up more or less where the other side left off, jumping in with a similar floating, sustained chord. Although the sounds are nice, the quiet rhythmic thumping heard throughout most of this side is distracting; it sounds like a minor vinyl pressing defect, but I???m pretty sure it isn???t. Just an artful audio touch, I guess. Unlike Side A, this side really does end cold.