AUME – “Agere Urendum Mentis Epode” – [Self-released]

lexi glass   7/31/2016   12-inch, A Library

AUME (Scot Jenerik and Aleph Omega, the drummer from Chrome) create “immersive soundscapes.” Agere Urendum Mentis Epode is their first non-digital release. Upon opening the beautifully crafted record (only 555 of these were made), you find a note from the artists recommending that you listen “in a darkened room with headphones.” I took their advice and was rewarded with an exhilarating listening experience. But even in the light of day, these two tracks still hold their power.

Sides A and B each contain a 21-minute track, “Praeludium” and “Epilogus,” that share a similar structure. Both open with the sounds of the cosmic: imposing metal-on-metal booms, the ambient roar of deep space, electronic static that races in circles around and past you, the sound of a beam of light that swells into the foreground until it is blinding, white-hot. Then, the alien atmosphere shifts to something that sounds more human – in “Praeludium” it is percussion hit with the hands, in “Epilogus” it is strummed strings – interwoven with looped vocal-like sounds, melding into something like a chant. These familiar sounds subside and the space odyssey resumes. As the record concludes, the sounds grow more distant, leaving you adrift, alone, in the dark.

If you like what you hear, AUME will be at the 2016 NorCal Noisefest.