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Band: Sun Through Eyelids
Album title: Impermanence
Release date: 25 October 2017
Label: Self-Released
Tracklist:
01. Sunyata
02. Ascetic Imprint
03. Visions Of The Initiate
04. Sinew Of The Earth
05. Pariah
06. The Womb Of Cosmic Impermanence
07. Indigo Illness
08. From The Shoreline
09. Onward To Nowhere
10. Gateway
11. Creation Of Naught
Dark ambient is one of the most fast growing genres in the last couple of years, there's no doubt about it and so many new artists are now dealing with this specific kind of sounds, one of them is New Zealand based Sun Through Eyelids. This act was formed in 2014 and since then Sun Through Eyelids served with numerous releases and appeared on many compilations. Because of kind of a specific approach to dark ambient, which is mostly reflecting the healing aspects of nature, offering kind of an emotional journey into our inner self, Sun Through Eyelids soon gained well deserved recognition among the fans of the genre. Now Sun Through Eyelids works as a duo, consisting of founder Tom Necklen, who's responsible for composition, field recordings, singing bowls, rain stick, chimes and didgeridoo, and USA based musician Meghan Wood who plays guitar, drums, spoken word, vocals, violin and clarinet.
On their new full-length album named Impermanence the two have really went one step further if compared to anything Sun Through Eyelids released until now. Impermanence consists of 11 tracks that are the darkest and most introspective thing done by this act so far. Not that much experimental and a bit less emotional, if compared to some of previous releases, but it's certainly more consistent, even more atmospheric, cold and brooding. The first half of the album is offering some highly cinematic dark ambient which can be compared to Atrium Carceri or Flowers For Bodysnatchers, but there's kind of elusive ambiance all over the tracks that brings in mind Kammarheit.
The soundscapes are often full of depth, various field recordings blended with several instruments and distant spoken words are in nice symbiosis to offer to the listener a picturesque sonic journey. It's pretty haunting, especially the opener "Sunyata" could be used in any psychological horror as a soundtrack, but what amazed me the most is certain coldness in the tracks like "Ascetic Imprint" or in "Onward To Nowhere" to name a few, which reminded me to Northaunt or Taphephobia. There's some kind of a cosmic dark ambiance in the lenghty "Visions Of The Initiate", and there's a bit of dungeon synth influence in "Sinew Of The Earth", nevertheless there's something unique about Sun Through Eyelids, it's certain sense to create suspension and psychotic tension with every single track, just listen to haunting "Pariah" or to the dramatic "From The Shoreline", it might seem like being a bit out of place, but it certainly adds a lot to the dynamics of this album.
The last couple of tracks are trully psychotic and full of desperation, it feels like being in one of the most perverted scenes of the David Lynch film, a very nice soundtrack to your nightmares. Especially the amazing, rather melancholic "Gateway", with those gloomy synths that are creating kind of a brooding melody really makes a remarkable dark sonic experience. The variety of used instruments, effects, field recordings and voices in these compositions is making everything pretty dense, multilayered and interesting so to say, quite captivating as well, and the one who will embark on this excursion full of immersive darkness and horror with Sun Through Eyelids won't regret it for a second. It has some things that masters of the genre could do it a bit better, but looking at it as a completely self-produced thing of a relatively new name on the scene, I can only say that this is one hell of a well done dark ambient release.
Review written by: T.V.
Rating: 8/10
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